This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Olga Kovalchuk, Head of Finance and Investment – Managing Director at Germany’s Goldbeck Solar. She says that the underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects affects the pipeline of women entering both the renewable and traditional energy sectors, though this is gradually improving with more targeted educational initiatives. “The gender pay gap is ever-present and, given how much pay is linked to performance in senior positions, the underrepresentation has a knock-on effect on the gender pay gap for the industry,” she stated.

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.

Martin Schachinger, founder of pvXchange.com, says that solar module prices are falling across the board, while batteries and inverters are hitting historically low prices due to market oversupply.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Annemarie Schouten, Head of Solar Development Netherlands at Vattenfall. She says establishing herself in a male-dominated sector was not always easy and explains how finding mentors may offer good support in dealing with unequal treatments. “I would say to younger colleagues entering this industry to surround themselves with different people,” she stated. “People that are not just like you. We need this variety of views, insights and ways of working to tackle the challenges ahead.”

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.

A Japanese-Finnish research group has assessed the levelized cost of energy of solar power plants supplying electricity to data centers in cold climates and has found that PV electricity could be considerably cheaper than grid electricity, even if used with battery storage.

Researchers at the University of Chicago San Diego have created a new sodium battery architecture with stable cycling for several hundred cycles, which could serve as a future direction to enable low-cost, high-energy-density and fast-charging batteries.

Once completed, the four-hour battery energy storage project will operate under a 15-year contract with Elia, Belgium’s electricity grid operator, and be located next to Engie’s gas power plant in Vilvoorde.

Toledo Solar says it has ended all R&D efforts and will wind down operations immediately due to an inability to license necessary technology for its cadmium telluride panels.

The Clean Air Task Force (CATF) says in a new report that dedicated clean hydrogen production and use is often a costly, inefficient decarbonization strategy for the power sector, while American Airlines says it has signed a deal with ZeroAvia for 100 hydrogen-electric engines.

Chilean researchers from Universidad Mayor say that the 10.8 MW La Colonia photovoltaic plant, built by IM2 Solar Chile and Enel Green Power, provides a habitat for birds.

Ron Shen, vice president of power electronics manufacturer GoodWe, recently spoke to pv magazine at The smarter E Europe event in Munich, Germany, about the company’s position in the European market and its focus on the fast-growing commercial and industrial (C&I) storage segment.

Philippe Flamand, the director and co-founder of Candi Solar, tells pv magazine about the company’s recent $38 million funding round and its plans to deploy renewables in emerging markets.

Italy-based Rhoss has developed a cascaded water-source heat pump that uses either R1234ze or R515B as the refrigerant. It can purportedly produce hot water to a temperature of up to 85 C.

Aggreko Energy has purchased commercial and industrial (C&I) solar developer Infiniti Energy.

Developed by researchers in China, the inverted perovskite device purportedly achieves the smallest nonradiative recombination-induced open-circuit voltage loss reported to date. It uses a synergistic bimolecular interlayer to functionalize the perovskite interface.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) plan to develop a redesigned PV module for easier recycling, with AUD 5 million ($3.4 million) in federal government funding to help transform Australia’s solar panel recycling industry.

Enphase says that it has started shipping US-made IQ8P-3P commercial microinverters, supporting up to 480 W of peak output power and compatible with solar modules up to 640 W.

AgRE.tech, which is developing a robotic operating system for existing photovoltaic infrastructure, has raised $2 million from EDF and Zemach Regional Industries. The company says it will soon set up commercial fields.

Market intelligence platform TrendForce says 210 mm n-type technology is “set to spearhead a new industrial revolution.” It expects 210mm modules to account for 78.29% of the large-format module market this year, increasing to 82.51% by 2027.

The French authorities have identified Carbon and Holosolis solar factories as “projects of national interest,” ensuring streamlined administrative proceedings for their approvals.

Researchers in Spain have investigated the potential of using photovoltaic (PV) or photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) systems in microbreweries and have found that PVT systems can cover more energy demand but have a longer payback time.

ClearVue Technologies, an Australian smart-window tech manufacturer, has secured a repeat order from the United States.

An international team of researchers have demonstrated how to speed up the research and development of scalable, high-performing organic solar cells by using an automated, high-throughput platform. It relies on digital twin technology and roll-to-roll (R2R) printing in a closed-loop system.

Scientists in India have combined 2D perovskite solar cell technology with MXenes materials to build a PV device with remarkable efficiency and open-circuit voltage. They claim the new cell architecture is key to helping charge carriers move smoothly through the cell layers and reduce recombination losses.

Wood Mackenzie says that solar will account for 59% of new renewables between 2024 and 2033. China is expected to drive the growth, accounting for half of new solar deployment over the projected time period.

The battery development should monetise excess grid capacity and complement the 320 MW compressed air energy storage project developed by Groningen-based long duration energy storage specialist Corre Energy.

The new EScal HV offers installations of between 17 kWh and 350 kWh using a stackable system that allows up to 15 modules to be placed in series, and four strings in parallel.

ERM says it has launched offshore trials to test its Dolphyn Hydrogen process, while Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) and Evoloh have completed a joint research project on electrolyzer manufacturing process and anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolyzer tech.

The 100 MW/200 MWh energy storage project featuring lithium iron phosphate (LFP) solid-liquid hybrid cells was connected to the grid near Longquan, Zhejiang Province, China.