In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that, in November, weather patterns have started to resemble the characteristic El Niño signature, with low pressure in the northwest Pacific, and an enhanced subtropical jet stream spreading from the Pacific across the southern United States.

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.

Solar industry expansion is racing ahead but shortages of skilled labor could derail progress. Long-term solutions are required to support further growth. Benoit Ribeaud, partner at Everoze, explores how a workforce bottleneck is affecting the solar industry and calls for more action to alleviate recruitment pressure.

As solar module prices continue to drop to record lows, amid global oversupply, questions are being asked about how much inventory is sitting in European warehouses and when normal levels will return. With numerous estimates and assumptions swirling, EUPD Research’s Markus A.W. Hoehner and Ali Arfa have looked closely at the numbers in an attempt to provide a transparent view of the issue.

From the International Solar Energy Society’s perspective, and the vision of a world with 100% renewable energy for everyone used wisely and efficiently, PV module production should not become an oligopoly and should not be concentrated in one corner of the world.

German researchers measured a PV-powered heat pump with battery storage in a single-family home in Freiburg, Germany, for a period of a year. It features smart grid-ready tech that adjusts operations based on the grid.

Sparc Hydrogen has successfully tested a green hydrogen tech prototype and is now advancing to a pilot plant study near Adelaide, Australia.

Solar capacity has rapidly grown in the United States, while manufacturing costs have fallen, prompting the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) to predict that PV will generate 14% more electricity than hydroelectric facilities in 2024.

Toyo Solar, a subsidiary of Vsun Solar, commissioned a 4 GW TOPCon cell factory, completing the first phase of an 8 GW manufacturing facility in Vietnam.

The factory is located in Velika Plana, central Serbia. The production equipment was provided by Italian manufacturer Ecoprogetti.

Scientists in India have developed a 500 W seven-level inverter prototype based on switched capacitors. The device is reportedly able to achieve a high efficiency despite switching, conduction, and capacitor voltage ripple losses.

Power purchase agreement (PPA) prices decreased by 1.9% on average in Europe in October, according to Pexapark. It says that 36 deals with a combined capacity of 1.6 GW were closed for the month.

France installed 2.2 GW of solar in the first nine months of 2023, bringing the nation’s cumulative installed PV capacity to 19 GW by the end of September.

The European Commission said last week it has greenlighted a €5.7 billion ($6.24 billion) scheme for Italy to develop renewable energy communities up to 1 MW in size.

Infinite Turbine has developed a heat pump turbine for residential and commercial applications, using PV or alternative electricity sources for simultaneous cooling and hydraulic power. The tech can be retrofitted with existing CO2 heat pump systems for air conditioning, hot water, and process heat.

Switzerland-based Studer says its new infra product can include up to 24 kW of solar and 30 kWh of battery storage. The system has two 12 kW inputs for solar panels and uses 5 kWh batteries from Italian manufacturer Weco.

Netherlands-based developer of lightweight PV systems, Rable Group, claims its new rooftop PV solution can be installed in 20 minutes without the need for special permitting or modifications to the fuse box.

An international research group has utilized through-substrate-vias to create 3D interconnections in III-V solar cells with a triple-junction architecture. The novel cell design was found to have a low shading factor of below 3% and a 6-fold increase in wafer area use compared to cells based on 2D interconnects.

State Grid Corp. of China has commissioned a 1.2 GW pumped hydro project, featuring three 300 MW turbines.

Graphite Energy, a thermal storage company, is building a facility in Australia to demonstrate how renewable energy and agriculture can co-exist through agrivoltaic and greenhouse systems.

Polysilicon prices fell by as much as 3.23% in China this week, according to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNMIA).

Scientists in Korea have proposed a simple methodolgy to tranform existing PV systems into photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) arrays. They claim the new design offers a cheaper alternative to expensive PVT systems, while enabling easier and faster deployment.

The Antecursor II robot autonomously inspects upper and lower solar panel structures for thermal anomalies, with more than 30 hours of autonomy.

Extreme weather is a growing risk to solar farms. Future-proofing through advanced technologies, leveraging data from novel sources, and accepting risk is vital, but rarely achieved today for a number of reasons. Insurers, lenders, developers, contractors and manufacturers recently came together in Melbourne, Australia, to discuss solutions to the intractable problem of weather risk.

Mito Solar, a Dutch developer of lightweight PV modules, has developed a laminate film to boost the power generation capacity of specialty solar panels, such as those installed on solar racing cars and boats. The company claims the film may improve a module’s power conversion efficiency by up to 1%.

Germany, in collaboration with Italy, has revealed plans to import hydrogen from Northern Africa.

Weiheng Ecactus has unveiled its new Tianwu battery system, with 233 kWh of capacity and 100 kW of output, giving users the flexibility to connect up to 10 units in parallel.

Large-scale reconductoring of existing transmission lines could cost-effectively double transmission capacity within existing rights-of-way, a study says. Renewable energy projects near reconductored transmission lines could more easily interconnect.

The European Union has launched its first green hydrogen auction with a maximum price of €4.50 ($4.91)/kg. The approved projects will receive subsidies for a decade, alongside revenue from hydrogen sales, and must start production within the next five years.

Developed by scientists from the UK and Spain, the new model uses high spatiotemporal resolution weather data and data from heat pump field trials. It finds “significant regional differences” compared to a British nation-wide estimation.