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.

This week, Women in Solar Europe gives voice to Eyerusalem Mekuria Wondemu, Project Engineer at Switzerland’s Gruner Stucky SA. She says changes in career paths are slow due to entrenched cultural norms and unconscious prejudices, but growing advocacy and representation drive progress. “Mentorship, continuous learning, and networking are critical,” she states.

Before we power into the new year, recharge and look back on the year’s most popular stories among pv magazine USA readers.

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.

India’s Bharat Petroleum has offer the lowest bid of INR 2.55 ($0.03)/kWh in NTPC’s new 1.2 GW solar auction, securing 150 MW of project capacity.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has finalized a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to Hanwha Qcells to support its solar plant in the state of Georgia. It aims to rebuild key parts of the US solar supply chain by manufacturing ingots, wafers, cells and solar modules.

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.

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.

Botswana Power Corp. (BPC) is seeking local companies to develop small-scale PV plants for off-grid power, as part of the government’s efforts to expand access to affordable electricity.

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.

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.

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.

A scientist in Sweden has developed a new hybrid local features-based method using thermographs to identify faulty solar panels.

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.

The proposed cell is based on indium gallium phosphide (InGaP), indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) and germanium (Ge) and has an active area of 0.25 mm2. It can be used for applications in micro-concentrator photovoltaics (CPV).

NuVision Solar – a newly formed, US-owned and operated manufacturer – has revealed plans to produce heterojunction (HJT) solar cells and modules.

The German wafer manufacturer said the efficiency was achieved with an unspecified M6 HJT commercial production line, without specifying if the result was certified by an independent third party.

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.

Battolyser Systems’ (BLS) product is a patented dual-purpose electrolyzer with a battery function.

Australian industrial battery company Switch Technologies has unveiled what it describes as the world’s first operational vehicle powered by Echion Technologies’ ultra-fast charging XNO technology.