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.

U.S.-based PVFarm has released a web-based application for large-scale solar PV project planning at the early stage. It includes real-time energy models and building information model (BIM) features, reportedly supporting PV plant electrical, mechanical, civil, energy, and procurement aspects.

UIS Technologies has commissioned polyurethane (PU) recoating and regrooving solutions for wire guide rollers (WGRs) at Adani’s 2 GW solar ingot-wafer plant in Gujarat, India.

Texas is uniquely suited to adopt virtual power plant (VPP) technology due to its competitive, deregulated market. Its success highlights the “perverse incentive” of vertically integrated utilities in other US states to make capital expenditures without discretion to raise profits.

Squadron Energy has filed documents with the state government of New South Wales, Australia, in a forward step on its proposed 2 GW Koorakee Energy Park, which will include a 1 GW solar farm and 1 GW of wind energy, backed by a 1 GW/12 GWh battery energy storage system.

Nur Bukhara Solar PV LLC FE, a project company owned by Masdar, will deliver a 63 MW battery energy storage system alongside a 250 MW solar plant in south-central Uzbekistan.

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

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%.

Scientists in India have proposed using a multilayer neural network to find line-to-ground, line-to-line, and bypass diode faults in PV module strings. They tested the new approach on a 22.5 kW solar array and reportedly achieved “competitive” accuracy results.

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.

REC has developed a new series of heterojunction solar panels with efficiencies up to 22.5% and an operating temperature coefficient of -0.24% per degree Celsius.

The German research institute said the new 120 µm thin solar cell could exceed 25% efficiency with the next optimization steps. The device was metalized via screen-printed contact fingers and calibrated by scientists at the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin.

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.

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).

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.

Solarwatt says it will shut down its battery factory in Germany. Battery production at the Dresden facility will halt at the end of this year, and the company will move all battery and solar panel production to China.

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.

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.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina have successfully transitioned their highly-durable lithium-sulfur battery technology from coin to pouch cells and reported competent energy densities.

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.