This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Carla Vico, CEO of France’s Green Solver. She says building an inclusive culture means valuing people for their work, accountability, and commitment, rather than their gender or background. “I do not believe in positive discrimination; I believe in creating equal opportunities and making merit-based decisions,” she states.

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 March in Australia was unusually wet and disrupted, with frequent tropical cyclones, polar air intrusions, and repeated low-pressure systems causing widespread cloud, storms, and record cold in the southeast. Solar irradiance was mixed: below average in the south due to persistent cloud and storms, but near or above average on some northern and coastal regions where breaks between systems allowed recovery.

Photovoltaic module prices have risen for the fourth consecutive month, driven by strong demand for energy independence despite falling upstream costs such as polysilicon. At the same time, production cuts in China and tighter supply conditions are limiting availability, reinforcing price increases across all technologies.

The move toward decentralized energy resources offers resilience and flexibility in power generation, but it also introduces new complexities that demand proactive security measures.

SolarEdge has a new commercial focused battery system, with the new model scaling up to as high as 1 MW / 4 MWh depending on the inverter choice.

Expo ER+ 2026 in Guadalajara highlighted Mexico’s accelerating photovoltaic and energy storage market, with strong industry participation and a clear focus on grid integration and digitalisation. Experts emphasized that future growth will depend on storage and transmission expansion.

Located in the Indian state of Gujarat, the ground-mounted solar plant uses n-type TOPCon bifacial modules based on POE–POE encapsulation technology.

In the first article of a new series on solar manufacturing facilities around the world, pv magazine presents the polysilicon facility of United Solar in Oman. The plant has a production capacity of 100,000 metric tons per year and is currently the largest of its kind outside China.

Ocean 2 brings a more versatile large-scale and expandable, modular home storage solution, capable of handling both small and large solar PV input.

Latest report from the International Energy Agency says last year’s 600 TWh increase in solar PV was the largest-ever electricity generation increase by any source in one year, outside of periods of post-crisis recovery.

Researchers in the United Kingdom developed a scheduling model for residential heat pumps that reduces electricity costs while maintaining thermal comfort under dynamic tariffs and uncertain rooftop PV generation. It optimizes when to use grid power, PV energy, and building thermal storage.

Bangladesh has introduced a new regulatory framework to develop utility-scale solar projects on land owned by public agencies, with the Bangladesh Power Development Board acting as the contracting authority.

AleaSoft Energy Forecasting’s latest analysis finds the weekly average electricity price was above €95 ($111.70)/MWh last week in all major European markets except France, Portugal and Spain. These three countries each set new records for solar energy production for a day in April last Friday, recording 145 GWh, 26 GWh and 213 GWh respectively. 

UK solar plants without fixed-price contracts will be offered voluntary long-term fixed-price agreements under a new “Wholesale Contracts for Difference” regime from 2026. The policy seeks to reduce exposure to volatile wholesale prices driven by gas.

An international research team has developed an AI-driven robotic platform that autonomously designs, fabricates, and optimizes perovskite solar cells, completing the full experimental workflow in a closed-loop system. Using the platform, the researchers fabricated and tested more than 50,000 devices, achieving efficiencies of up to 27%.

Tandem PV has opened a 40 MW commercial demonstration factory in Fremont, California, marking a significant transition for perovskite-silicon technology from laboratory development to repeatable manufacturing at scale.

The Chinese company says the new product targets long-duration storage, grid support, and GWh-scale deployment.

Spain and Portugal recorded a surge in negative electricity prices in Q1, driven by strong solar generation and relatively low demand on the Iberian Peninsula. Further records are likely in 2026 as solar capacity grows, with more frequent price volatility expected across Europe.

Jinko Power signed a framework agreement with Zhongwei to develop a 1 GW data center in Ningxia, marking its entry into green computing under China’s “Eastern Data, Western Computing” initiative. The project, however, remains subject to approvals and funding scrutiny.

The Chinese manufacturer said its lightweight Light Diamond TOPCon module delivers 560 W at 24.94% efficiency.

Supply chain attacks compromise PV systems by targeting trusted vendors, software, or hardware components, allowing attackers to infiltrate systems indirectly through legitimate channels. These attacks can disrupt operations, introduce hidden vulnerabilities, and impact multiple assets at once, making vendor security and system validation critical for resilience.

Fraunhofer ISE-led researchers demonstrated zinc-doped tin oxide (ZTO) as an indium-free alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) for recombination layers in fully textured perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. ZTO delivers comparable device efficiencies of 27–28% under current-matching conditions, offering a scalable, indium-free pathway for high-performance tandem photovoltaics without efficiency loss.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated all claims of two TOPCon solar cell patents previously asserted by Trina Solar against Canadian Solar subsidiaries.

A research team in Germany developed a dynamic model of spray cooling for floating PV systems that couples thermal behavior, electrical performance, and active cooling, and validated it against a 750 kW installation. Simulations across four climates showed that spray cooling reduces module temperatures by up to 42% and improves energy yield by up to 3.8%, with benefits strongly dependent on local conditions.

California is putting the sun to work on the heavy lift that keeps California hydrated.

The battery manufacturing heavyweight presented its latest sodium-ion products at ESIE 2026 earlier this month, expanding its push into grid-scale storage, AI data centers, and long-life applications.

The Korean manufacturer said its new heat pump system can achieve a seasonal coefficient of performance of up to 4.9 under low-temperature floor heating conditions, and approximately 3.78 under higher-temperature operation at 55 C.

Taisei Corporation has demonstrated that a building can operate entirely on solar power by combining PV generation with a hybrid storage system integrating batteries and low-pressure hydrogen at a test facility in Yokohama. An EMS-enabled setup using lithium-ion batteries and PEM electrolysis balanced short- and long-term energy supply and demand, enabling year-round renewable operation, according to the company.

Researchers in Italy analyzed air-to-water heat pump performance in Alpine regions, focusing on how start-up and defrost cycles affect efficiency under current and future climate conditions. Their simulations show that while warmer temperatures slightly reduce defrosting losses and modestly improve efficiency, start-up cycling losses remain significant and continue to limit overall performance gains.