This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to María Santa María, Head of Projects at BayWa r.e. Iberia. She says that diversity and Inclusion are worth the central stage in a company’s hiring practices and board representation. She also claims that organizations and industry stakeholders have lots to gain by explicitly and outspokenly prioritizing equity and inclusion to create a more inclusive environment for women and other underrepresented groups.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that a strong polar jet stream and a record-breaking heat dome in May resulted in a stark contrast in irradiance patterns across North America. The western and central USA, along with Mexico, experienced higher than normal irradiance, while the Gulf and East Coast regions faced lower irradiance.

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.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has been heating up in Germany but increased competition and high interest rates are affecting renewables project values. Baris Serifsoy, partner at GreenCap Partners, examines the investment landscape in one of the world’s most developed PV markets.

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.

The draft parameters for this year’s capacity market auction in Poland could make the rollout of battery energy storage systems (BESS) much more difficult. The document proposes a significant reduction to the BESS derating factor that could be particularly harmful for longer duration storage systems.

The Chinese PV industry has benefited from the availability of substantial finance over the past two decades, supporting the development of the renewable, zero-carbon capability essential for meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Easy access to finance has led to unsustainably low prices and unnecessary losses, however, impacting China’s ability to sustain support for renewable energy systems. As the nation expands clean power installations and enhances grid-balancing capacity, maintaining consistent financial support has become more challenging.

Chinese wafer manufacturer TCL Zhonghuan says it wants to invest around $197.5 million to increase its stake in Maxeon from 22.39% to at least 50.1%. A Maxeon spokesperson told pv magazine that the plan would place the company in a solid financial position.

Scientists from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) and High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) have developed a highly oxygen-deficient perovskite for protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs), while the European Commission has approved its fourth Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI).

JinkoSolar says it has achieved a 33.24% efficiency rating for its perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, confirmed by the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

TBEA has developed new products with nominal power ratings of 75 kW to 110 kW and efficiencies of 98.6%. Their European efficiency rating is 98.4%.

FTC Solar has developed a hail stow strategy that positions solar modules to minimize the impact of hail and wind, based on a collaboration with VDE Americas.

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management has revealed plans to buy France-based Neoen for €6.1 billion ($6.6 billion).

Solar projects across Finland have been given the green light after grant agreements were signed with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency. A total €27.5 million ($29.8 million) is being invested across the projects through the EU renewable energy financing mechanism.

A team of researchers developed a methodological framework for assessing solar potential at airports and applied it to seven Indian airports. They found the greatest potential at an airport in Raipur, central India, where they say an at least 21 MW array could be installed without compromising customer experience or safety.

U.K.-based indoor PV specialist Lightricity and Japanese capacitator manufacturer Nichicon have developed a PV-powered Bluetooth switch to remotely control home or office equipment, such as lighting, sliding doors, or appliances.

An Indian-US research team has fabricated a four-terminal perovskite-cadmium telluride tandem solar cell by utilizing a highly conductive and sputtered transparent electrode to increase the current density of the bottom cell. The tandem device combines a 18.3%-efficient top perovskite cell and a 19.53%-efficient cadmium telluride bottom device.

Using 600% less voltage to produce hydrogen, a research team at the University of Illinois Chicago has developed a new method for splitting water.

PVRadar Labs has expanded its software platform to include PV project risk assessment functionality, reportedly enabling more realistic performance estimates based on historical climate data.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new Hi-MO X6 Scientist series has a temperature coefficient of -0.28%/C and a power output ranging from 620 W to 630 W. They rely on the company’s proprietary hybrid passivated back contact (HPBC) cell technology.

Qcells says it will use Lumet’s fine-line metallization technology for its solar cells, for higher efficiency and lower production costs.

The novel heat pump concept combines solar energy with chemical storage and reportedly consume 75% less electricity than conventional heat pumps. The system relies on a battery and a heat storage tank that can be used either separately or simultaneously, depending on the outdoor conditions.

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.

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology have designed an optical filter for the thermal management of IBC photovoltaic modules. The proposed technology can reportedly reduce the cell operating temperature by up to 2.5 C and extend the lifetime of a PV module by up to 2 years.

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.

Evolution Mining is moving forward on a AUD 7 billion ($4.64 billion) plan to build a 2 GW/20 GWh pumped hydro electricity generation facility in the pit of a 20-year-old gold mine in Australia.

US-headquartered Apricus Generation says it has acquired a controlling stake in Toronto-based Nexus Renewables – its first strategic acquisition.

Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2) is launching membraneless electrolyzers with cryogenic systems to separate hydrogen and oxygen. It is producing them in the United Kingdom and is collaborating with other companies for production in Germany and New Zealand. It says it expects 4 GW of combined production capacity by 2030.

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.