This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Rachele De Angelis, European Affair Officer at Italy’s Enel. She says bringing fresh ideas from new academic backgrounds and early career experiences can help companies achieve transformative insights. “These perspectives can challenge old assumptions and generate more creative and inclusive solutions,” she states.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, FOB China TOPCon below 450 W modules for spot loading were stable at $0.093/W, with price indications between $0.087-0.100/W. Furthermore, it reveals that current price increases are not being uniformly adopted across all Chinese manufacturers, with significant price differences—often several euro cents— being observed between the Top 5 and Top 10 manufacturers.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that irradiance across England, the Benelux region, Denmark, northern France, northern Germany, and northern Poland surged well above long-term March averages. In the UK, aggregated solar irradiance reached its highest March value since 2014.

As the renewable energy sector rapidly evolves, battery energy storage systems (BESS) are emerging as a critical pillar for decarbonization. However, with capital constraints and rising market volatility, not all projects are equally viable. At ABO Energy, we’re witnessing a shift in the investment landscape, where preparedness is the key to success.

Will White, solar application specialist at Fluke Corporation, focuses on the important qualities of today’s mounting and racking systems in solar installations.

This expansion comes at a critical time for the U.S. solar industry with much uncertainty around supply chains and pressure to increase domestic output.

Moldova is expected to launch a new tender for the construction of large renewable energy parks colocated with battery energy storage systems in October.

ContourGlobal’s site features six-hour storage capacity alongside 221 MW of solar generation capacity. It is located in northern Chile and is part of a portfolio acquired from Spain’s Grenergy last year.

Suhas Donthi, CEO of Emmvee, speaks with pv magazine about India’s evolving role in the global solar supply chain, the risks of oversupply, and what it will take for Indian manufacturers to lead on the world stage.

Iberdrola España has started ATuAire, a subsidiary focused on aerothermal heat pump solutions to electrify heating and hot water systems in Spain.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new heat pump system can continuously and stably provide hot water up to 75 C. At a temperature between 35 C and 55 C, the new product can reportedly achieve a seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP) of 4.6 to 5.23, with COP values ranging from 3.86 to 5.63.

Tanzania Electric Supply Co. Ltd. (Tanesco) is seeking engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for a 100 MW PV facility to be built in the country’s Shinyanga Region.

Octopus Energy Services has responded to the government’s decision to slash the payments made to solar home owners for their excess electricity by launching its SolarPlus, home solar-plus-battery product.

Lithuania added record solar capacity in 2024, pushing cumulative installations to nearly 2 GW, driven largely by residential systems and a favorable regulatory framework.

Fincantieri says it is building the world’s first hydrogen-powered cruise ship for delivery in late 2026, while Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan says it will debut the world’s first hydrogen-powered vending machine at the Kansai Expo this year.

The Italian manufacturer said the new version of its silver module is ideal for grey roofs and buildings with modern architecture. It uses a 3.2 mm silver-coated glass and features a power conversion efficiency of 19.52%.

Scientists at the Korea Institute of Energy Research claim to have achieved the highest efficiency ever reported for a perovskite-CIGS tandem solar cell with flexible, lightweight architecture. The device was also found to achieve “excellent” durability.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new utility-scale battery uses 314 Ah cells with a 15,000-cycle lifespan.

A research team in Iran has designed a four-terminal perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells with a 19.3%-efficient bottom heterojunction cell and a 12.7%-efficient perovskite top cell. Both subcells were conceived to have interdigitated back contacts, with the top cell reportedly helping to improve the tandem device’s light-trapping and efficiency.

The exclusive license agreement covers the manufacture or sale of perovskite PV products for the Chinese market. A statement from Oxford PV says the agreement “underscores the industry consensus that perovskite-based PV technologies are the future of solar.”

International PV module prices, driven by Chinese averages, will likely rise from $0.08/W to $0.10/W today to $0.11/W by the end of 2025 and potentially $0.13/W by 2027, says Clean Energy Associates (CEA), noting that heterojunction and back-contact technologies now make up 12% of global module capacity.

The defense and aerospace company’s vertical solar array technology (VSAT) reaches up to 19.8 m in length. Lockheed Martin says the technology is capable of providing continuous and sustainable power for a range of lunar operations.

Indian manufacturers built 25.3 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity in 2024, taking the nation’s panel capacity to 90.9 GW as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Researchers in Italy have conceived new agrivoltaic modeling for agrivoltaics that includes crop yield response curves for multiple crops. Once the electricity production coming from the PV modules is also assessed, the performance metrics for the agrivoltaic system as a whole are obtained.

Researchers from Aalto University in Finland demonstrated a proof-of-concept of laser-processed glass to be used as a type of solar concentrator for building integrated PV (BIPV) applications. The treated glass enabled a 55-fold increase in photocurrent generation compared to unprocessed glass, with an estimated optical efficiency of 0.66 %. Additionally, a fluoropolymer coating was applied to create a self-cleaning surface.

Vanadium redox flow energy storage manufacturer Prolux Solutions said 50 l of vanadium electrolyte leaked from a residential unit in Arbon but no fire occurred.

Chinese researchers have developed a thermal battery prototype using composite sorbents and have scaled it up via simulation to operate in real world conditions. A compression ratio from 1 to 4 reporteldy boosts average output heat power by 300%.

GoodWe says its new EHB single-phase hybrid inverters suit larger residential energy storage applications with the series supporting 200% PV oversizing, allowing for systems up to 20 kW in size.

Analysts see negative impacts across the board, but EV and battery energy storage industries seem particularly vulnerable to US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Berlin-based researchers behind the ‘Your Power Storage Can Do More!’ initiative want home battery owners to use intelligent charging to help the grid and state budget, and slow battery aging.