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.

A group of researchers in Iran has analyzed the coefficient of performance and the energy consumption of a solar-assisted heat pumps and an air-source heat pumps and has found that three factors are crucial to determine their annual performance – irradiance changes, ambient temperature, and wind speed.

Carbon and Holosolis have both requested construction permits for 5 GW solar panel factories in France.

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 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 14th assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) last week in Abu Dhabi underscored the centrality of geopolitics and security in the current global energy landscape. The gathering also called for greater action to achieve the COP28 target of tripling renewables deployment by 2030.

Denmark will procure at least 6 GW of offshore wind power capacity to potentially produce hydrogen, while Orlen says it will use a European Commission grant to build 16 hydrogen refueling stations in Poland.

France’s new feed-in tariffs (FITs) for the period from May to July 2024 range from €0.1735 ($0.1850)/kWh for installations below 3 kW to €0.1141/kWh for arrays ranging in size from 100 kW to 500 kW.

A new report by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) shows the nation’s clean energy transition is gathering pace with renewables, including large-scale and rooftop solar.

Solargis says that Indian solar operators have experienced below-average PV panel performance due to air pollution in each of the past five winters. Northern India experienced the worst air quality in decades this January, with data showing a 30% to 50% dip in solar irradiance due to high aerosol levels.

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%.

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.

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.

The latest supply chain report from the Hong Kong-based technical compliance and quality assurance company covers the Southeast Asia region, providing information about 50 manufacturing sites.

Germany-based Sinn Power plans to build a 1.8 MW floating PV system with vertically deployed solar modules. Construction is expected to start this summer.

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.

Enphase Energy says that Octopus Energy’s retail customers will be able to integrate solar and battery systems into their energy plans in the UK market, with the introduction of Enphase IQ8 microinverters and the IQ battery 5P platform.

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.

AleaSoft and SolarPower Europe inform pv magazine that negative energy prices in Europe are related to the pandemic, low demand, insufficient storage solutions, and inadequate energy planning. They say this situation will likely continue into the summer.