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.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, forecasts drier and sunnier conditions in the forthcoming winter across key solar areas in the southern United States, Mexico and Brazil, driven by borderline La Niña conditions.

High interest rates, excess warehouse inventory, and falling component prices have created a perfect storm for solar distributors since October 2023. BayWa re Solar Trade CEO Frank Jessel explains how the industry can embrace true digitalization to better navigate this volatility.

Martin Schachinger, the founder of pvXchange.com, reports that tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar module prices in Germany have fallen by an average of €0.010 ($0.0109)/W this month. Demand remains especially weak in the residential sector, while complex authorization processes are also challenging the commercial and industrial (C&I) and ground-mounted segments.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Nataliia Cherepovska, communication manager at Poland’s Menlo Electric. She says that especially in Ukraine, where she comes from, solar is more than a green initiative – it’s a lifeline. “Solar-powered crucial facilities keep running even when the grid falters, ensuring critical services,” she states. “Solar energy doesn’t just power buildings – it powers hope, security, and progress.”

The charging and storage all-in-one machine HyperCube Pro was developed in response to growing demand for fast-charging EV infrastructure and based on solid-state lithium iron phosphate battery cells developed in-house.

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has reported strong initial results from its first test of perovskite tandem solar cells in space, where perovskite-silicon and thin-film cells on an OOV-Cube satellite are showing resilience to high radiation levels and possible “self-healing” from radiation damage.

The European Commission is offering 85 net-zero projects a share of €4.8 billion ($5.2 billion) in grants from the latest round of the EU Innovation Fund. Some of the projects will contribute to 3 GW of new solar manufacturing capacity.

China’s Longi Green Energy has set a new world record for crystalline silicon solar module efficiency with its independently developed hybrid passivated back contact (HPBC) 2.0 module, achieving a conversion efficiency of 25.4%, according to a certification report from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).

The former CEO of Solar Fabrik has confessed that he committed tax evasion in a double-digit number of cases amounting to €9.1 million in a previous position as the head of another company. This involved circumventing the minimum import price for Chinese solar modules when importing them into Europe.

Scientists from Denmark have examined three façades installed on a mobile office container to conduct building-integrated PV experiments.

Danish energy supplier Better Energy has completed its first large-scale solar project in Sweden, a 24 MW facility in the southern part of the country. It has secured 10-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with three Swedish companies for the energy.

The comparison site Selfmade Energy shows, in addition to the falling prices, that customers are obtaining significantly more offers than they were one or two years ago. Managing director Tim Rosengart assumes that the price pressure on installers will continue in the coming months.

Specializing in the design of custom solar systems, Sunwind Energy will launch the Delta Flore solar PV planter onto the market by the end of the year.

United Kingdom-based 3ti Energy Hubs has launched a portable electric vehicle charging station for 12 cars that it delivers to commercial and industrial sites where demand exceeds supply.

Arriba Technologies, a UK heating and cooling specialist, has developed a solar-integrated heating and cooling unit with a DC electrical system, all in a single package. It is installed at a 750 kW plant at Cambridge’s Rosie Hospital and won the Lighthouse Heat Pump Award at the European Heat Pump Association’s heat pump forum in September.

The perovskite-silicon tandem device has a two terminal configuration and a 2D perovskite layers at the bottom interface. It was able to retain around 80% of its initial efficiency for 1,700 h.

Researchers in China have analyzed the effect of phase change material on BIPV, and created an artificial neural network to forecast its effect on system temperature. The proposed approach reportedly achieved superior predictive performance compared to earlier methods.

Scientists have modeled eight different kinds of PVT systems, some with a glass covers and some without. They found the worst efficiency was achieved in uncovered systems with parallel round tubes.

Solplanet has released its ASW350K-HT three-phase solar inverter, a 350 kW device with a maximum efficiency of 99.01% for utility-scale PV projects in India.

The Chinese manufacturer said the new Tiger Neo 3.0 modules are available in two versions with outputs of 495 W and 670 W.

The German manufacturer unveiled a new line of hybrid inverters for applications ranging from residential rooftop arrays to projects on small commercial buildings. They have outputs between 6 kW and 12 kW, a maximum efficiency of 98.19%, and a maximum European efficiency of 96.55%.

Dutch solar PV systems integrator IM Efficiency has launched a complete solar PV system that includes battery and energy management system to power electrical systems on freight carrying trucks and transport trailers.

The Chinese manufacturer said the result was confirmed by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin.

A group of scientists conducted a literature review of almost a hundred fast maximum power point tracking algorithms. They extracted ten representative algorithms and showed which of them works best under different scenarios.

The volume of large-scale battery energy storage projects under construction in Australia passed that of solar and wind projects combined in 2023 and the trend has intensified this year, with batteries attracting federal support. As coal-fired power plants are shuttered, developers and suppliers are enjoying a battery bonanza.

The energy density of the newly developed lithium-sulfur prototype far exceeds the one of common lithium -ion batteries.

A European research team proposed a new air-source heat pump sizing approach that utilizes long-term climate data and adjusts system operation based on actual local climate conditions. The sizing algorithm incorporates peak heat demand, unitary final energy demand, and seasonal heat demand across different house sizes.

Repsol has told pv magazine that it has frozen 90% of Spain’s hydrogen projects nearing final investment decisions, while Statkraft has confirmed that it has revised its plans for its hydrogen project in Norway.

Solar-plus-storage systems are attracting homes and businesses to guarantee energy supply and avoid losses in emergencies. Brazilian solar trade body Absolar estimates battery prices have fallen around 90% over 15 years.