This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Carla Vico, CEO of France’s Green Solver. She says building an inclusive culture means valuing people for their work, accountability, and commitment, rather than their gender or background. “I do not believe in positive discrimination; I believe in creating equal opportunities and making merit-based decisions,” she states.

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.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that March in Australia was unusually wet and disrupted, with frequent tropical cyclones, polar air intrusions, and repeated low-pressure systems causing widespread cloud, storms, and record cold in the southeast. Solar irradiance was mixed: below average in the south due to persistent cloud and storms, but near or above average on some northern and coastal regions where breaks between systems allowed recovery.

Photovoltaic module prices have risen for the fourth consecutive month, driven by strong demand for energy independence despite falling upstream costs such as polysilicon. At the same time, production cuts in China and tighter supply conditions are limiting availability, reinforcing price increases across all technologies.

The move toward decentralized energy resources offers resilience and flexibility in power generation, but it also introduces new complexities that demand proactive security measures.

Researchers in Italy analyzed air-to-water heat pump performance in Alpine regions, focusing on how start-up and defrost cycles affect efficiency under current and future climate conditions. Their simulations show that while warmer temperatures slightly reduce defrosting losses and modestly improve efficiency, start-up cycling losses remain significant and continue to limit overall performance gains.

Cloud and SaaS platforms are now central to PV plant operations, but their centralization creates a high-impact cybersecurity risk where a single compromise can expose or disrupt entire fleets of installations. Attackers exploit weaknesses like stolen credentials, insecure APIs, multi-tenant flaws, and platform vulnerabilities, making strong identity controls, secure APIs, and continuous monitoring essential defenses.

Localized distribution-level projects can cut out-of-state energy imports by 13% while providing a faster alternative to delayed transmission-scale infrastructure, said a report by Pathfinder Communications.

Norwegian developer Scatec ASA has commissioned the first phase of the 1.1 GW Obelisk solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Egypt, backed by $479.1 million in development finance institution (DFI) debt and a fully contracted storage revenue model.

The country’s seventh green energy auction is set to procure rooftop, ground-mounted and floating solar projects across the Philippines, with increased allocation in Mindanao. The Department of Energy plans to release the auction’s terms of reference during the second quarter of this year.

The Chinese manufacturer said its lightweight Light Diamond TOPCon module delivers 560 W at 24.94% efficiency.

A new metric for assessing total system costs puts a least-cost mix of offshore wind and solar at about €46 ($54.20)/MWh in a future climate-neutral energy system for Denmark. Researchers tell pv magazine that figure is less than half the equivalent cost of nuclear under the same conditions.

A study from the University of Naples Federico II finds hydrogen production at Mediterranean ports could cost €5.7–8.6/kg using only renewables and €2.5–13/kg in hybrid systems, with solar emerging as the most reliable resource and wind outperforming it in select locations. Alongside these findings, major industry developments include new hydrogen and e-fuel projects, advanced electrolyser technologies, and EU-backed infrastructure expansion supporting large-scale decarbonization.

The country reached a cumulative installed PV capacity of 44.9 GW at the end of March, according to recent figures from Italian PV association Italia Solar.

Supply chain attacks compromise PV systems by targeting trusted vendors, software, or hardware components, allowing attackers to infiltrate systems indirectly through legitimate channels. These attacks can disrupt operations, introduce hidden vulnerabilities, and impact multiple assets at once, making vendor security and system validation critical for resilience.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated all claims of two TOPCon solar cell patents previously asserted by Trina Solar against Canadian Solar subsidiaries.

A research team in Germany developed a dynamic model of spray cooling for floating PV systems that couples thermal behavior, electrical performance, and active cooling, and validated it against a 750 kW installation. Simulations across four climates showed that spray cooling reduces module temperatures by up to 42% and improves energy yield by up to 3.8%, with benefits strongly dependent on local conditions.

The Swiss federal government has launched a funding call for research projects on energy and resource-efficient industrial processes, including the circular economy related to solar modules, batteries, heat pumps and electrolyzers. The deadline to submit pre-proposals is June 30.

Researchers have analyzed the biomass and nutritional value of grasses and legumes for grazing dairy cattle, growing in agrivoltaics fields. The results showed that forage quality may be maintained or even enhanced in agrivoltaic environments.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island explored why citizens who voiced pro-solar sentiments voted against a solar project development in a 2019 municipal referendum. Their analysis found objections over land use greatly outweigh proximity concerns.

India-based Pur Energy has launched the PuREPower 3.0 Lite, an all-in-one lithium battery-based power backup solution positioned as a cleaner and more compact alternative to conventional inverter and lead-acid battery combinations for the residential segment.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has formally registered Genuine Renewable Energy and Eco-Friendly Energy Network Corp. (GREEENC) as an ecozone enterprise to manufacture and export PV modules, with the European Union as the primary target market.

South Korea has extended investment tax credits to solar module manufacturing facilities meeting carbon footprint thresholds, in the latest step in a policy trajectory that increasingly uses procurement and tax measures to support domestic manufacturers.

Media outlets in South Korea are reporting that Malaysia’s OCI TerraSus, a subsidiary of Seoul-headquartered chemicals company OCI Holdings, is in talks with SpaceX for a multi-year polysilicon supply contract.

Researchers in Spain have identified a new source of underperformance in utility-scale PV plants caused by “suboptimal backtracking” on slightly uneven terrain. The study shows that real tracker control systems deviate from ideal flat-terrain assumptions, reducing irradiance capture and causing measurable energy losses compared with simulations.

BMW Group tells pv magazine its iX5 Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) will enter series production in 2028 using a third-generation fuel cell system developed with Toyota, but says hydrogen pump prices must reach parity with diesel for the vehicle to succeed commercially.

Germany could break the gigawatt-hour mark for the first time on a monthly basis. Around 45,000 new residential photovoltaic storage systems have been registered in the market master data register so far in March.

The decree represents a shift in grid operations with storage seen as improving reliability and enabling higher renewable energy penetration.

The two companies will develop XFRA, a distributed network of compute nodes connected to homes with smart panels, batteries and optional solar generation, in partnership with Nvidia and homebuilders like PulteGroup,

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) says distribution grid investment has risen 51% since 2021, but warns that fragmented planning rules and regulatory distortions could limit efficiency and slow the energy transition.