In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, explains that the solar cycle does tend to increase the earth’s average annual extra-terrestrial irradiance, but only by a very small amount. It also explains that, while the annual cycle of extra-terrestrial irradiance causes a steady, predictable and significant 3.5% change through the seasonal cycle, the peak of the 11-year cycle of solar activity causes a smaller, more sporadic and unpredictable set of fluctuations.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Oana Ijdelea, the founder and managing partner of Romanian law firm Ijdelea & Associates. She says there is no objective blockage impeding women from pursuing a career in the renewable sector. There is, however, a vicious circle where women may become reluctant to apply for a position where males appear to be more present, and on the other hand, the lack of female presence in such roles does not encourage other women to step in.

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.

The requirements of measures such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) mean that solar panel prices in the United States can be twice as much as in Europe.

Prices for tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar panels continue to fall. pvXchange.com founder Martin Schachinger explains how this will affect the sale of PV modules based on passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) cells.

Renshine Solar says it will open a gigawatt-scale perovskite PV module factory in Jiangsu province, with a planned investment of CNY 1 billion ($138 million). In January, it reported that its perovskite solar panels had achieved a power conversion efficiency of 18.4%.

The authorities in Mali have revealed plans to build a 200 MW solar plant with backing from Russia.

Mytilineos has signed two 10-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Ireland for 14.28 MW of solar projects it is developing.

Chinese battery manufacturer Svolt has cancelled plans to open a plant in the German state of Brandenburg. Meanwhile, its plans for cell production in Saarland, southwest Germany, continue to be delayed.

Analysts at a recent event in Dhaka called for the removal of high import duties on solar products in Bangladesh, as it could reduce PV system prices by up to 11%.

Researchers in Italy have found that combining residential air heat pumps with air-geothermal heat exchangers may reduce power consumption by up to 30%. They tested the proposed combination using Matlab in a passive single-family building located in Valtellina, northern Italy.

The power purchase agreement will see Clean Energy Connect Co Ltd, an Itochu portfolio company, develop around 72 MW of dedicated solar plants for Google by 2026, to help reach the search engine company’s renewable energy targets.

Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) says in a new report that blue hydrogen might not be an effective climate solution, while TotalEnergies and its partners have agreed to explore green hydrogen potential in Tunisia.

Baywa re has commissioned a 54 MW agrivoltaic solar project in Spain. Denmark-based Velux has agreed to purchase most of its 96.8 GWh of annual output under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).

Brazil added 6 GW of new PV capacity between January and April. ABSolar, the Brazilian PV association, says the country has now cumulatively deployed 43 GW of solar capacity, with around 24 GW from PV systems below 75 kW in size.

Scientists in South Africa have proposed a new chalcogenide perovskite solar cell design based on a compound known as barium zirconium sulfide. They tested different hole transport materials in the new device and found that a polymer known as P3HT achieved the best performance.

Anywhere Solar says its new trackers have a module area of 75 m2 and can host PV systems up to 19 kW in size. When deployed horizontally, the systems allow vehicles up to 4.3 meters high to pass underneath.

The Japanese electronics manufacturer has launched the NU-JC440 and NU-JC430B panels with efficiencies of 22.53% and 22.02%, respectively. Both products are IEC/EN61215 and IEC/EN61730-certified and rely on M10 wafers.

A U.S. research team has investigated the thermomechanical reliability of metal halide perovskite (MHP) modules and cells in an effort to identify the best strategies to improve their stability under thermomechanical stressors. The scientists discussed, in particular, film stresses, adhesion of charge transport layers, and instability under light and heat.

Scientists in South Africa have modeled a photovoltaic system connected to a thermoelectric cooling device and have found it may produce around 9.2% more electricity than conventional PV system without cooling. The research team claims the proposed system guarantees a minimum cost saving of 10.56%.

India’s solar module exports hit $1.9 billion in fiscal 2023-24, with shipments to the US market accounting for the lion’s share of the total.

A Chinese research group including scientists from module maker Tongwei has designed a perovskite solar cell with remarkable perovskite film quality through the so-called self-disintegrating seed strategy. The device not only achieved one of the highest fill factor values ever recorded for perovskite solar to date, but also showed remarkable stability.

CEZ Group has developed a new solution for securing solar photovoltaics in areas of unstable subsoil from the central section of conveyor belts previously used in strip coal mines. Several pilots of the steel structure have already been deployed on a reclaimed area near the Bílina Mine in northern Czechia.

Wood Mackenzie says in its latest report that low prices and integrated supply chains allow Chinese manufacturers to supply more than 65% of total global demand for renewables equipment, with its exports growing by 35% between 2019 and 2023.

Researchers in Nigeria have proposed to build inverted perovskite solar cells exclusively with all-inorganic transport materials and a lead-free perovksite absorber. Through a series of simulations, they showed these device may achieve efficiencies over 30% with low production costs.

The Greek parliament has approved a new law introducing renewable energy policies for auction design and small projects with stable feed-in tariffs.

Reliance Industries has signed a technology licensing agreement to gain access to Nel Hydrogen’s platform for alkaline electrolyzer production.

U.S. scientists have developed a thermophotovoltaic cell that could be paired with inexpensive thermal storage to provide power on demand. The indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) thermophotovoltaic cell absorbs most of the in-band radiation to generate electricity, while serving as a nearly perfect mirror.

The versatility of solar mounting manufacturer and balance-of-system provider Clenergy’s ezShade 2.0 solar shade system has been put to the test with the solution at the core of a standalone power system fuelling an off-grid communications site in remote northern Queensland.

Nikola plans to sell 100 hydrogen fuel-cell trucks for logistic operations in California, Volvo has started developing hydrogen combustion trucks, and Airbus has announced plans to launch a study into hydrogen projects in the US state of Georgia.