This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Carol Murphy, Head of Independent Engineering for Onshore Renewables at UK-based OWC. She say, with more women joining the solar sector, it’s easier than ever to connect with peers across roles and organizations. “To any woman looking to enter this field, my advice would be to persevere. No matter the obstacles you encounter, if you’re passionate about a career in solar, there is a place for you,” 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, while much of the Americas will see cloudier weather than normal for the season, particularly in the eastern United States and parts of central Brazil, Europe’s solar outlook is split with high pressure over central regions bringing clearer skies to the Iberian Peninsula. Across Asia, cloud cover is expected for India and the Far East, while Australia’s northern and eastern regions are likely to enjoy abundant sunshine.

The fossil fuel rich Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faces mounting pressure to diversify its energy mix. While solar is cheap, it faces significant sociopolitical and economic challenges.

Prices across the solar supply chain remained in bearish territory into the fourth quarter of 2024. Trade and regulatory developments have continued to preoccupy the industry and dampen trading activity.

The world has lost a forward-thinking clean energy proponent, who 44 years ago recommended a solar strategy to move the United States toward energy security by using abundant, clean energy sources.

BloombergNEF says green hydrogen will fall from a current range of $3.74/kg to $11.70/kg to between $1.60/kg and $5.09/kg by 2050, while Longi Hydrogen has secured a conditional $6.14 million equity investment and cooperation agreement with HydrogenPro.

The South African government has named preferred bidders for 16 renewable energy projects, totaling ZAR 44.2 billion ($2.4 billion) in investments, to drive solar and battery development.

Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (EWEC) says it has secured four sites in the United Arab Emirates to develop 4.6 GW of solar and wind projects.

Grenada’s Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has launched a call to prequalify bidders for a 15.1 MWp solar project at Maurice Bishop International Airport, as part of the island’s energy transition.

Econergy Renewable Energy has secured financing from Raiffeisen Bank for its 92 MW Parau solar project in Romania, marking the Israeli company’s second such transaction with the bank.

Researchers in France have proposed a numerical decision-making framework to determine solar panel tilt angle optimization in extreme winds. They say the framework challenges traditional engineering practices and offers a scalable solution for enhancing real-world resilience.

UK startup Volter has launched software to simplify revenue generation for owners of commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop solar assets. It also supports installers and power purchase agreement (PPA) providers active in commercial rooftop solar markets.

Scientists have designed a system that combines solar panels, wind turbines, and battery storage to operate water pumping systems in Jordan. They simulated it under several scenarios in search of the optimal size.

Nova Energy and Meridian Energy have partnered to construct the 400 MW Te Rahui solar farm, which will become the largest solar installation in New Zealand.

Scientists in the Netherlands proposed a new testing scheme for recycling silicon from end-of-life photovoltaic panels. Their methodology helped create different wafer categories for recycling silicon for new ingot production but also showed that most of recycled silicon in the near future will come from p-type products, which will harldy be reutilized in a market now dominated by n-type modules.

Researchers in Switzerland have fabricated a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells that utilizes a heterojunction cell as bottom device. The cell is said to circumvent the film formation issue associated with the use of phosphonic acid and achieve high efficiency levels.

Huaneng Group has begun phase two of its Jintan Salt Cavern CAES project in China. It is set to become the world’s largest compressed air energy storage facility with groundbreaking advancements in power output and efficiency.

New research from India has shown that bifacial perovskite solar cells can achieve a 2% higher power conversion efficiency with a tilt angle of 20 degrees. The scientists also developed a bifacial perovskite solar cell for applications in both tandem or single-junction PV devices.

Researchers in Iran have used digital elevation models to improve the accuracy of solar energy potential maps. Their model is intended to identify the best areas for solar panel deployment in urban areas.

An international research team has analyzed which factors contribute to fire accidents in PV facades and has found that the distance between the wall and the photovoltaic modules plays a crucial role. The scientists also said project developers should attentively consider what combustible materials are embedded in the wall cavity.

A research team in China improved the efficiency and stability of an inverted perovskite cell using a co-assembled approach to incorporate self-assembled monolayers at the hole transport layer.

South Korea-based solar module manufacturer Qcells has set a new efficiency world record for a commercially scalable perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell, produced at its pilot line in Germany.

Trina Solar has achieved a world-record 27.08% efficiency rating for a new n-type fully passivated heterojunction (HJT) solar cell. The Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH) has verified the result.

The latest report from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) says the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) industry is facing significant challenges due to a lack of clear testing and certification procedures. It says international consensus and the harmonization of certification processes will be crucial for widespread adoption of the technology.

Researchers in Qatar have proposed a solar-powered freeze desalination and electrolysis system for freshwater and green hydrogen production, while BP says it has made a final investment decision for its 100 MW Lingen Green Hydrogen project in Germany.

Greece is pursuing an ambitious island energy transition program. pv magazine visited the island of Tilos for a firsthand account of how one community has blazed a trail in the energy transition.

With expanding market opportunities and declining costs, stationary battery energy storage installations are surging. Battery makers are awake to the opportunity, says BloombergNEF, as stationary batteries account for an increasing amount of deployed capacity.

SDIC Gansu New Energy has commissioned the 750 MW Akesai Huidong CSP-PV plant in Jiuquan, China’s Gansu province, combining a 110 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) tower and a 640 MW solar array to form China’s largest hybrid solar facility.

ABB has agreed to purchase Gamesa’s power electronics and storage business, which produces doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind converters, industrial battery energy storage systems (BESS), and utility-scale solar inverters.