In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that significant swathes of Europe saw much more solar irradiance than normal last month.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Jessica Klein, Head of Regulatory EU & Germany at RWE Renewables. She says working in solar it’s not just joining an industry, but also becoming part of a global shift toward a cleaner, smarter, more inclusive energy future. “Claim your space in that movement. And help lead the way,” she states.

Supply chain challenges, subsidies and tariff uncertainties are forcing the solar energy industry to find significant cost efficiencies. As older models of installed solar panels become harder to source, the growing second-life solar market helps industry find replacement panels and other equipment.

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 gives voice to Jodie Brush, Communications & Public Affairs Manager at Verbund Green Power Iberia. She says that real progress happens when everyone is involved. “Gender equality isn’t just a women’s issue. Men must be invited to join the conversation, listening, learning, challenging their own assumptions, and becoming allies,” she states.

India could cut electricity costs to about $50/MWh by 2050 by transitioning to a fully wind- and solar-powered system with primarily day-night balancing, according to new modeling that includes generation, grid, and balancing costs – well below current fossil-based wholesale prices.

A 90 MW solar farm and four-hour battery energy storage system planned for the Richmond Valley in northern New South Wales has passed through the federal environmental approvals process in just 30 business days.

Aurora Solar says most US homeowners are unaware of the urgency created by the One Big Beautiful Bill’s (OBBB) phase-out of the 30% solar tax credit, underscoring the need for installers to educate consumers, cut soft costs, and prioritize transparency.

Lyten has raised an additional $200 million to accelerate its efforts to become a main player in Europe for its battery energy storage systems (BESS), following its earlier acquisition of a plant in Gdansk, Poland.

India’s Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. (MSEDCL) has issued a tender for 2 GW/4 GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) at sites connected to the intra-state grid. Developers will be selected to deploy the systems across MSEDCL-designated locations.

Researchers in the Netherlands have simulated a residential energy system combining PV, solar thermal, and PV-thermal panels with aquifer thermal energy storage and a heat pump, achieving a seasonal coefficient of performance of seven across five buildings.

Indian researchers have developed a Sudoku-based technique to reduce power losses in PV systems operating under partial shading. They claim the method increases energy efficiency and revenue generation more than conventional reconfiguration techniques.

France’s TotalEnergies has broken ground on a 1 GW solar project in Iraq. The first 250 MW phase is due to come online before the end of this year.

Swiss startup Sun-Ways inaugurated its railway PV project in April in Neuchatel, Switzerland, after more than two years of planning. Joseph Scuderi, founder of Sun-Ways, tells pv magazine that the pilot is attracting international attention.

Lithuania’s Solitek has launched full-black 425 W bifacial solar modules with matte, satin-textured glass for glare-sensitive sites such as airports, road barriers, and buildings.

A group led by Cambridge University has developed an adhesive-free method of bonding ultra-thin gallium arsenide solar cells to borosilicate glass. The proposed technique is reportedly compatible with standard planar device processing.

Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have proposed combining the two high-temperature steps used in producing tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells into a single co-annealing process. Initial results show promising outcomes in boron concentration, passivation quality, and contact resistivity.

Researchers have designed a new switched-capacitor-based multilevel inverter topology with nine switches. They have tested it in simulations and in hardware-in-the-loop tests. Efficiency reached up to 96.5%.

Scientists in Hungary have built an experimental rig that uses a 60 W polycrystalline solar panel with 152 holes drilled into its frame for air cooling, as well as high-conductivity copper alloy pipes and fins placed on its back for water cooling.

Scientists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have used a dielectric additive in organic photovoltaic fabrication to produce uniform films in ambient humidity levels between 10% and 70%. The researchers said the approach improves process stability for organic solar cells.

Solar modules are getting bigger, thinner, and more powerful. But from Texas to Thailand, the same problem is appearing: broken glass. Not from hail or mishandling, but from cracks that spider from frame edges, splinter near clamps, and web across modules. In cases seen by Jörg Althaus, director of engineering and quality assurance at Clean Energy Associates (CEA), it starts with a few panels – then dozens, hundreds, even thousands.

SunCubes, a startup from Italy, is developing laser-based wireless power transfer technology to provide in-flight energy to drones for uninterrupted recharging. It has raised seed funding to finance a minimal viable product.

Researchers in Taiwan have developed an adjustable aluminum reflector system that boosts the performance of vertically mounted bifacial solar modules. The prototype delivered a 71.32% total power gain over a baseline system without reflectors.

China added 212.2 GW of new solar capacity in the first half of 2025, pushing total installed PV capacity past 1.1 TW, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).

Next Energy Technologies has completed the first installation of its transparent organic photovoltaic glass facade. The 9.3 m2 installation is located at its headquarters in Santa Barbara, California.

The US Department of Energy has granted $4.1 million to Inlyte Energy to deploy grid-scale batteries in a microgrid in northern California.

Partners from Germany and Czechia are building a battery storage production line in eastern Czechia, integrating in-house control systems to improve cybersecurity and reduce reliance on Chinese infrastructure.

Sunotec says it will deploy Sungrow battery energy storage system (BESS) tech across co-located solar projects in Bulgaria and wider Europe.

The Windy Plains Renewable Energy Park will deploy approximately 197 turbines for 1,400 MW of wind capacity alongside 500 MW/2,000 MWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS).

New analysis of retrofitting solar power plants with energy storage, accounting for the industry’s rapidly falling prices, suggests that prepping your solar projects today has a strong chance of being in your financial interest.