Spanish energy company, Gas Natural Fenosa has announced that construction is underway on the 49 MW La Nava PV project, its first solar project in Spain’s central region of Ciudad Real. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has launched a new software package, developed alongside SunPower and kWh Analytics, which it says will improve the accuracy and reliability of PV plant performance data, and improve the industry’s understanding of degradation.

Korean module manufacturing giant, Hanwha Q Cells reported a net loss of US$9.2 million for the full year 2017, falling from a net income of $127.5 million in the previous year. The company cited a one-time loss associated with the discontinuation of wafer manufacturing as the main reason for the decline.

Scientists led by Aalto University in Finland have developed new ways to test perovskite and dye sensitized solar cells for aging, using fast, low threshold photography.

World Bank Group has announced that, through its subsidiary Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), it will provide up to US$18 million in support of two 5 MW PV power plants to be constructed in Namibia.

Scientists from the University of California, Riverside, have developed thermoelectric devices, which can transform low-level waste heat into electricity. The scientists theorize that these devices could be used to boost a solar PV system’s output, harnessing heat as well as light from the sun.

Technology multinational, Apple Inc. has announced that its global operations are now 100% powered by clean energy. Additionally, another nine of Apple’s manufacturing partners have committed to powering their production with 100% clean energy, meaning a total of 23 suppliers have now made this commitment.

Scientists at European solar research organization, Solliance have announced the achievement of 14.5% conversion efficiency on a perovskite module. The module uses a glass substrate, and the efficiency was measured on an aperture area of 144 cm².

The large-scale solar markets of China, the USA, and Europe have experienced vastly different fortunes over the past couple of years. As China has boomed and the U.S. held steady, Europe has seen growth rates plunge. But nothing is constant in PV, and each of these three vital markets faces a series of unique challenges and opportunities, as pv magazine discovered.

Researchers based at Los Alamos National Laboraory in New Mexico, the U.S., and Rice University in Houston have found that constant illumination ‘relaxes’ the structure of perovskite solar cell material, increasing its conversion efficiency.