IEA PVPS has published its new “Snapshot of Global PV Markets 2024” report, highlighting key insights and trends. Despite record installations, concerns over profitability and manufacturing dynamics persist, underscoring the need for strategic interventions and policy support to navigate towards a resilient and sustainable PV ecosystem.

The use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to create nanoscale crystal structures to attract hydrogen molecules could drastically improve the energy efficiency of storing and transporting the energy carrier.

As solar module prices continue to fall, pvXchange.com founder Martin Schachinger explains how price pressure could increase in the weeks and months to come.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that dust storms and slear skies led to contrasting March Solar Performance in West Asia. The Arabian Peninsula experienced humid winds and dust storms that reduced solar irradiance to 90% of typical levels for the month.

In another article of a series on gender equality, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice Mariyana Yaneva, Vice Chair at the Association for production, storage and trading with electricity (APSTE). She explains that policies allowing childcare needs to be met but not placing the burden of care explicitly on women, increase the chances that women can build the business acumen and professional contacts necessary to qualify for a corporate board.

London-based Globeleq has acquired a 48.3% stake in the 25 MW Winnergy solar plant in Egypt’s Benban Solar complex. It will now cooperate on the management of assets and the operation of the facility with Egyptian manufacturer GILA Altawakol Electric.

AleaSoft Energy Forecasting recorded electricity price increases in most major European markets during the third week of April. It says prices could continue to increase in the fourth week of April, due to rising electricity demand.

The Indian authorities say the nation’s latest 10 GWh tender was oversubscribed. It attracted seven bidders, including ACME Cleantech Solutions, Reliance Industries, and Waaree Energies.

Chinese module manufacturer JinkoSolar has recorded roughly $16.4 billion of revenue and a $1.06 billion net profit for 2023, with PV module shipments reaching 78.52 GW. Its module manufacturing capacity hit 110 GW at the end of December.

The Australian federal government’s initiative to install 400 community batteries across the nation has reached the Australian Capital Territory, with plans for three new battery energy storage systems.

GameChange Solar, a US-based tracker supplier, has announced the construction of a 3 GW tracker factory in Saudi Arabia, with plans for potential expansion to 5 GW in the future.

Azerbaijan has revealed plans for its first renewables auction, in order to facilitate the design, financing, construction and operation of a 100 MW solar plant. Applicants can contact the Ministry of Energy from April 30 to participate in the first of two auction stages.

The Spanish authorities are seeking 1.3 GW of clean energy and storage projects to provide flexibility, stability and security to the national electricity supply.

The new products are intended for applications in commercial and industrial PV projects. The devices feature an efficiency rating of up to 98.1% and a European efficiency of up to 97.8%.

The new X1 can operate inside or out, from -20 C F to 55 delivering what Anker says is 100% power output without derating. The batteries are lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) and will reportedly remain fully operational for up to 3,000 charge cycles.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has updated its research cell efficiency chart for a range of PV technologies.

The Chinese manufacturer said Germany’s TÜV SUD has confirmed the results.

A Dutch research team have developed a solar radiation forecasting model that uses the long short-term memory (LSTM) technique. The proposed methodology reportedly achieves better results than other forecasting approaches.

Two Korean research institutes are designing the 2.2 km × 2.7 km Korean Space Solar Power Satellite project with the aim of providing approximately 1 TWh of electricity to the Earth per year. The proposed system should use 4,000 sub-solar arrays of 10 m × 270 m, made out of thin film roll-out, with a system power efficiency of 13.5%.

Researchers in Sweden have analyzed how roll-bonded PVT collectors can act as secondary heat sources in ground-source heat pumps and have found they provide a better performance than conventional PVT panels. Their techno-economic analysis also showed roll-bonded PVT systems can be up to 9% more expensive than conventional installations based on sheet and tube absorbers.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) says the nation installed more than 47 GW of solar in the first three months of this year.

The provisions cover all products and do not target specific companies or industries. They will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union tomorrow. EU member countries will have three years to enforce them.

Stefan Wippich, the CEO and co-founder of Germany’s SecondSol platform, recently spoke with pv magazine about the development of the used PV module market. Wippich noted national differences and argued that it will be important to set rules for the trading of secondhand products.

PV Cycle Belgium says it collected and processed 404 tons of solar panels for recycling during the first quarter of this year. It notes that the number of solar panels it has collected over the last five years has more than quadrupled.

Maxeon has filed two different lawsuits in the United States against Hanwha Qcells and REC over claims that the two manufacturers used an unspecified tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell technology.

Norwegian PV developer Scatec ASA has switched on a hybrid solar and battery storage facility in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.

The new heat pumps use R-454B as a refrigerant and are specifically designed to be matched with Johnson Controls’ residential gas furnaces. Their size ranges from 1.5 tons to 5 tons and their coefficient of performance (COP) spans between 3.24 and 3.40, according to the manufacturer.

Linde says its White Martins unit will build a second electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen in Brazil, while Sunfire has launched a front-end engineering and design study (FEED) for a new 500 MW hydrogen project.

Netherlands-based developer Giga Storage has obtained the irrevocable permit for the construction of a 600 MW/2,400 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Belgium.

The Dutch government has earmarked €100 million ($106.7 million) of subsidies for the deployment of battery storage alongside PV projects. The funds are part of a €416 million subsidy program announced last year to alleviate grid congestion.