In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, presents the solar irradiance data it collected for Australia in June. The data showed that Eastern New South Wales received irradiance about 15% above normal for June, whilst central and western Victoria received totals 10-20% lower than normal.

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.

The adoption of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) has been hindered by the complexity of fire safety standards, creating challenges for manufacturers and suppliers. However, efforts such as the IEA PVPS Task 15 report and collaborative research have shed light on the importance of comprehensive guidelines, reliable testing laboratories, and international cooperation.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) explains how many smart electrification solutions are already available and ready for commercialization, with pioneering companies creating, trialing and deploying potentially transformative innovations.

In its latest monthly column for pv magazine, the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) presents its structures and recent activities. The next outreach activities of the ETIP PV are planned for the EU-PVSEC conference from the 18th to the 22nd of September in Lisbon, covering hot topics like digital PV or updates on levelized cost of PV electricity.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council’s (IREC) 13th annual “National Solar Jobs Census” shows that solar jobs grew in 2022, with California leading the way.

Rystad Energy says that about €7 billion ($7.8 billion) of solar panels are now being stored in Europe, but European developers continued to buy solar modules from China throughout the first half of this year.

A French consortium featuring Akuo and Sagecom has built a 30 MW solar plant in Niger. The European Union, the French Development Bank and the government of Niger co-financed the installation.

Tata Group says it will build a 40 GWh battery factory in the United Kingdom to produce batteries for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and other electric-vehicle manufacturers in the Great Britain and Europe.

Utilities increasingly recognize heat pumps as a critical technology for heat decarbonization. They are deploying multi-megawatt systems in different parts of Europe to simultaneously serve multiple users and offer new avenues for the decarbonization of buildings.

Researchers in the Middle East have developed a new design for energy systems combining PV power generation with Trombe walls in buildings. They claim their new system configuration with reflective mirrors offers improved overall system efficiency both in terms of heating and electricity production.

LevelTen Energy has reported a 1% decline in power purchase agreement (PPA) prices from the first quarter to the second quarter in the United States, following three years of consecutive quarterly increases.

Scientists in Cyprus evaluated six different models used to predict the power losses caused by the accumulation of dust, dirt, and other substances on the surface of PV panels in the island’s arid climate. Results from the various models were compared with soiling loss data from a “test bench” installation at the University of Cyprus in Nicosia, revealing a potential advantage for machine-learning approaches backed by satellite data.

Madagascar has tendered a 200 MW solar project near Antananarivo and a 10 MW facility on its north coast.

Through the procurement exercise, the GEA-BEAC allocated 1,870.8 MW of ground-mounted PV capacity and 90 MW of floating solar power. The selected developers will secure 20-year power purchase agreements.

Researchers in Estonia applied for the first time the close-spaced sublimation (CSS) deposition technique to manufacture solar cells based on antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3). The resulting devices showed limited power conversion efficiency so far, but the scientists claim the new process paves the way for the development of future earth-abundant inorganic PV materials.

Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE has achieved a world record efficiency for organic cells at the lab level. It now aims to bring the PV technology to market maturity.

Serbia-based Storenergy has developed a thermal energy storage (TES) solution that uses recycled ceramics as the storage medium. It says its solid-state storage solution is designed to ensure long lifespans and low maintenance costs.

Researchers in Austria have analyzed the crack propensity of backsheets made of polypropylene (PP) and have concluded these may be potentially used in solar module manufacturing, unlike co-extruded polyamide backsheets, which caused many headaches to the PV industry in the past. Furthermore, PP backsheets are claimed to have lower stiffness and higher flexibility than their laminated counterparts.

In this exclusive interview with pv magazine, Guoguang Chen, President of Smart PV & ESS Business at Huawei Digital Power, in this, discusses company strategy and recent announcements around FusionSolar, latest technology and product innovations in solar and storage, and more.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has started accepting bids from solar manufacturers to supply 1 GW of PV modules built with domestically manufactured solar cells. Bidding closes on Aug. 17.

JinkoSolar says that its solar panel shipments reached 30 GW in the first of this year.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has made highly bifacial perovskite cells with a front-side efficiency of 23%.

US scientists developed a monocrystalline solar panel relying on “minicells” based on polysilicon on silicon oxide passivating contacts. The module works with laser light and can reportedly achieve a photoconversion efficiency of over 40% and an open-circuit voltage of 7 V.

French eco-organization Soren, which collects and recycles end-of-life solar panels, has published its 2022 annual report. Last year, more than 10 million solar panels were put on the market in France, up 25% from 2021.

The government of the Australian state of New South Wales has provided planning approvals for two new grid-scale batteries. They will deliver a combined 540 MWh of energy storage capacity to support the state’s rapidly changing energy market.

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have agreed to collaborate with Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on hydrogen, while Masdar, Mitsubishi and Inpex have said that they will use green hydrogen to produce e-methane and polypropylene.

Scientists in Italy have coupled a solar-powered air heat pump with a water tank for thermal energy storage to provide hot water to a residential building as a retrofit solution. They claim that the proposed system configuration can achieve a “desirable” thermal performance while reducing annual electricity consumption.

Traditional owners in Western Australia will partner with advisory firm Pollination to develop what could be Australia’s largest solar farm. The move is part of plans to build a gigawatt-scale green hydrogen and ammonia project in the northwestern part of the country.

A Finnish-Swedish consortium has designed a hybrid system that uses photovoltaics and solar thermal energy separately to provide steam to industrial facilities. The PV unit is coupled to a sand-based thermal storage system and reportedly contributes to lower the levelized cost of energy of the entire system.