The current module oversupply market dynamic has coincided with efforts to bolster manufacturing outside of China by national governments and manufacturers alike. pv magazine consultant and contributor Götz Fisbheck was a part of discussions regarding made-in-Europe production, to find that protectionist measures are being called for by some.

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 the third week of September, European electricity markets prices fell compared to the previous week. The decline was due to lower demand and a significant increase in wind energy production in several markets, which offset increasing gas and CO2 prices. On September 25, TTF gas futures reached their highest level since early April and on September 18, Brent reached its highest settlement price since November 2022.

Warnings about the need to decentralize Ukraine’s electricity grid, made 10 years before the Russian invasion, fell on deaf ears at the time. In the wake of war, nations across Eastern and Central Europe are alive to the risks embodied in traditional energy networks.

Solar module prices have never fallen so sharply in such a short period of time. One reason for this is the “PV module glut” in warehouses in Europe, according to pvXchange’s Martin Schachinger.

RCT Power says it has expanded its production capacity to 600 MW with two new hybrid inverter lines in Germany.

Conall Bolger, CEO of the Irish Solar Energy Association (ISEA), has told pv magazine that while it was ‘good’ news the Irish government favored solar PV projects in the latest renewable auction, less than half of solar PV projects selected in the first tender round of the same program would not ‘reach the finish line.’

Munich-based startup 42watt will expand its fee-based services to simplify building energy efficiency renovations for homeowners and enter new market segments after raising an undisclosed amount of seed funding.

Dragonfly Energy is using lithium hydroxide recovered from recycled batteries to manufacture battery cells, with Aqua Metals leading the way in recycling solutions for materials in the supply chains for energy storage and electric vehicles.

EnergyAustralia’s plans to install a 500 MW/2,000 MWh big battery storage system in the Australian state of New South Wales are gaining momentum, as the Hong Kong-owned generator has secured approval to conduct site investigation works.

Iberdrola has finished building Spain’s first hybrid wind-solar project, featuring a 74 MW solar plant and a 69 MW wind farm.

The French government has awarded 129 projects an average price of €0.0824 ($0.0868)/kWh in its latest ground-mounted tender. This represents the largest capacity since the beginning of the tender series held by the French authorities.

Renfe says it will invest around €27 million ($28.4 million) to build a 20 MW pilot PV installation. It will be part of a broader project involving several PV installations along its rail network.

The novel method was developed by American scientists, who say that it is efficient for nowcasting and intra-hour forecasting. They also claim the technique to be scalable to PV systems of any size.

Researchers in Switzerland have found that the most effective way for governments to nudge homeowners into installing rooftop solar PV sytems hinges on individuals being told how much money they’ve lost by not getting it sooner.

Swedish startup and KTH to use green hydrogen plasma in pilot reactor for solar grade silicon Encouraged by lab results and a feasibility study, Swedish startup, Green14, in collaboration with Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) plans to build a pilot-scale reactor to make solar grade silicon with a hydrogen plasma process. The company sees […]

Fraunhofer ISE researchers utilized a new front metallization technique to produce a III-V gallium arsenide solar cell. For mask and plate front metallization, they used a new two-step printing scheme that reportedly allows for the realization of extremely narrow mask openings.

Solarstone, an Estonian producer of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solar roofs, has opened a 60 MW manufacturing facility in Viljandi, Estonia, to produce a broader range of design and performance specifications.

Mondragon Assembly says it has won a patent dispute in China, marking its second successful case in the country in relation to its patented continuous string process.

Hydrostor has signed a deal with miner Perilya to build a 200 MW/1,600 MWh advanced compressed air energy storage facility in a disused mine cavity in New South Wales, Australia.

Researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE developed new techniques to reduce silver consumption in tandem perovskite silicon solar cells and heterojunction silicon PV devices. The new processes relate to cell metallization and module interconnection.

SolarWatt has started production of TOPCon modules, with plans to manufacture both glass-glass and glass-backsheet versions. It says it aims to make its first shipments in January 2024.

Researchers in Iran have designed a new light trapping (LT) structure for perovskite solar cells that reportedly achieves optimal light absorption without impacting the electrical properties of the cells. The key element of the device is an anti-reflector layer based on silicon dioxide (SiO2) that improves light harvesting and charge extraction performance.

Gautam Solar says it will invest $18.1 million to double its annual PV module production capacity to 2 GW.

SolarSpace, a China-based PV cell and module manufacturer, announced the first phase of a 5GW high-efficiency solar cell plant in Laos, giving momentum to its overseas production capacity.

As the energy storage trend unfolds, stories litter the media landscape about lithium-ion batteries catching fire, and even exploding. This is a valid concern, as the time for consumers to understand a basic truth about lithium-ion batteries is long past due.

Wood Mackenzie says that US developers installed 1.7 GW/5.6 GWh of new storage capacity in the second quarter of 2023.

Moroccan researchers have investigated the potential energy savings of PV systems integrated with biomaterial-based walls in rural areas. They say that solar-powered earth homes could achieve a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of $0.218/kWh.

Solar industry veteran Jigar Shah, the director of the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Loan Programs Office, says that virtual power plants are the path to success, as solar net metering now faces an uncertain future.

A fire broke out this week in a Tesla Megapack 2.0 battery unit at the Bouldercombe battery facility in Queensland, Australia.