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In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, SolarPower Europe describes which policy tools are expected to help Europe move at a faster pace in solar and renewable energy deployment. The European trade body discusses the upcoming support schemes, the transformation of the PPA market and the rise of green finance.

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.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Maria Sabella, CEO and founder of Italy-based Enlight Energy Services. She told as, in some cases, at the beginning of her working relationships, she felt some prejudgment from male colleagues, but she also aknowledged, that the initial reaction disappeared after the focus on the details of the activity to be performed increased.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that in March most European solar operators and grids saw less solar irradiance and production than normal, due to enhanced westerly winds bringing moist air off a relatively warm Atlantic ocean. Large areas of the continent saw irradiance down 10% to 25% below normal for March.

The Swiss canton of Fribourg says it plans to cover a roadway with 14 MW of solar panels. The authorities are now conducting an in-depth feasibility study, to be followed by a financial plan for the project.

GlobalData say it is “plausible” that Saudi Arabia could close in on its target of 130 GW of renewables by 2030 by strengthening policies, competitive auctions and other financial measures.

Avaada Energy has won NTPC’s 250 MW solar-wind hybrid tender with a winning bid of $0.042/kWh. The project must be connected to India’s Inter State Transmission System (ISTS).

Systovi has gone into liquidation, as the commercial court in Nantes, France, has issued an order to do so, citing the solar panel manufacturer’s failure to find new investors, despite its 80 MW of panel manufacturing capacity.

ArcActive, a New Zealand-based battery tech specialist, plans to set up a factory in Australia within 18 months. It says the facility will be able to produce 30,000 lead acid-based residential energy storage systems per year.

A Chinese research group has sought to understand the relative performance of two weather prediction techniques based on ensemble modeling for solar energy forecasts. The scientists applied the two methods in combination with three classical post-processing methods.

Researchers in China have compared the performance of catenary and taut mooring systems for offshore floating PV systems. They found that the taut system offers a higher degree of reliability in shallow water environments with severe tidal variations.

Scientists in the Netherlands conducted meta-analysis on the growth of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and blackcurrants under different levels of shade generated by elevated agrivoltaic systems. They found that, although classified as shade-benefitting in previous literature, not all berries are equally profiting from the presence of the photovoltaic panels.

Utility Eskom is seeking proposals to build a 75 MW solar plant at the Lethabo Power Station in South Africa’s Free State province.

AleaSoft Energy Forecasting says that all major European electricity markets, except for Italy, have recorded negative hourly electricity prices for the second straight week. However, the Spanish consultancy notes that prices generally remain low.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is collaborating with policymakers, energy suppliers, and space companies under the Solaris initiative to assess the feasibility of space-based solar power. A decision on the viability of the project is expected by the end of 2025.

ABB Motion has unveiled a new solar drive for water pumping, featuring integrated maximum power point tracking (MPPT) logic to maximize operations, with an input voltage ranging from 225 V to 800 V.

US news outlets have reported resident concerns about leaked toxins from solar facilities in Texas that were damaged by a hailstorm. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has rejected the reports, which contained categorically false information.

The U.S. based developer of steel PV module frames said its products are an alternative to conventional aluminum frames. They passed several third party tests as the company readies production and evaluations by module manufacturers.

A U.S.-based team developed a vapor deposition technique to fabricate outperforming all-inorganic perovskite thin films in under 5 minutes in a continuous process. The adoption of the proposed approach may also result in higher perovskite solar cell power conversion efficiencies.

Sunmaxx PVT, a photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar module specialist, has built an automated 50 MW module factory near Dresden, Germany.

Researchers in Spain claim to have recorded the highest power conversion efficiency result for a four-terminal tandem organic cell to date. The device is based on an ultrathin transparent silver electrode.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new frameless module can be installed on a balcony through nylon cable ties, without the need for any mounting structure. The new product features a power output of 200 W and a power conversion efficiency of 16.2%.

A Saudi research group has assessed how polymeric coatings, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), could be used for radiative cooling in photovoltaic panels and has found that both materials could reduce the operating PV module temperature by between 1.15 C and 1.35 C.

The European Commission (EC) has proposed the European Solar Charter (ESC) in response to the challenges facing the continent’s solar manufacturing industry. The document sets out a series of voluntary actions to be undertaken to support the EU photovoltaic sector and bears no mention of EU trade tariffs or restrictions on cheap solar panel imports.

Nhoa Energy, an Italian developer, has commissioned a battery energy storage project for Taiwan Cement Group in Yilan county, Taiwan, with a capacity exceeding 120 MWh.

Renewables developer Vast Solar has signed a key engineering contract as it pushes toward construction of a 30 MW/288 MWh thermal concentrated solar power (CSP) plant with more than eight hours of energy storage capacity near Port Augusta, South Australia.

Researchers in India have simulated a 4 kW solar power-based hybrid electric vehicle (EV) charging station using a three-stage charging strategy and found that the station is capable of charging 10–12 EVs with 48 V 30 Ah lithium-ion batteries.

Vale and Central South University have launched a joint laboratory for low-carbon and hydrogen metallurgy in Changsha, in China’s Hunan province, while Nippon Steel has secured approval to acquire U.S. Steel.

Researchers in Japan have developed a novel cathode material for rechargeable magnesium batteries (RMBs) in the form of rocksalt oxide. This new material reportedly enables efficient charging and discharging even at low temperatures.