This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Jesús Alijarde, founder and CEO of Spain’s Ibersyd / Cerfo. He says one of the earliest biases he had to confront was the idea of men as protectors of women. “It may sound noble, but in practice, it reinforces inequality,” he 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.

Industrial regions in Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu are emerging as key markets for captive solar in India. High electricity tariffs, state-level incentives, and environmental targets from export-focused firms are accelerating adoption of distributed solar across the country’s industrial sector.

The technology which combines solar PV panels and agriculture is gaining ground. IEC Standards for solar photovoltaic (PV) systems already exist, but more might be required, dealing with some of the more specific issues relating to agriculture.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Maria Ardila, construction engineer at UK-based Cubico Sustainable Investments. She says that progress remains slow in the energy industry because gender matters are often viewed as personal choices rather than the systemic issues they truly are. “Until society challenges the outdated norms and organizational structures that penalize mothers, meaningful advancement toward gender equity in leadership will continue to be constrained,” she states.

Ukraine’s 200 MW/400 MWh battery project dwarfs most Eastern European installations, and is expected to come online in October 2025, ahead of the winter.

Experts advise people with serious interest in home solar to act quickly and consider their choices carefully to avoid any headaches.

China’s Sany Silicon Energy is building its first solar plant in Zimbabwe. The project uses the company’s EP+F business model combining engineering, procurement and financing.

The Dutch company says its short-term trading solutions for solar and other renewable energy technologies, supports grid balancing, reduces the costs of imbalance, and optimizes energy flows in an “increasingly volatile” energy market. It is growing internationally, and expanding its support of battery-related trading.

Chinese companies made up nine of the 10 largest global inverter suppliers in 2024, with total inverter shipments reaching 589 GW (AC), according to Wood Mackenzie.

pv magazine visited a 1.9 MW agrivoltaic plant in Austria where pumpkins and soy are cultivated beneath vertically mounted PV structures supplied by Next2Sun.

Poland’s solar capacity neared 22 GW at the end of March, according to figures from the country’s Institute of Renewable Energy. There are currently 532 solar projects with a capacity equalling 950 MW with valid building permits.

Over the past 12 months, solar power has become California’s largest source of electricity, a trend likely to continue.

A request for proposals from six qualified bidders interested in developing a 22.5 MW solar-plus-battery project is now live in the Cayman Islands. The project will be the islands’ largest solar site to date and first to integrate battery storage.

China is set to break new ground in its energy transition, with 2025 renewable capacity additions projected to exceed 500 GW, driven by surging solar and wind deployment, according to a new report from the State Grid Energy Research Institute.

Testing conducted by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Germany has shown that perovskite solar cells operating at high latitudes in Europe may suffer from higher performance losses in winter compared to conventional PV devices. The scientists warned, however, that at lower latitudes this seasonality may be less pronounced.

Record solar generation across Europe and limited storage capacity are driving a surge in negative electricity price hours, with below-zero pricing expected to hit new highs in the third quarter, according to Montel Analytics.

Superdielectrics launches the Faraday 2 battery, advancing a water-based, metal-free approach to home storage, from a UK-based facility.

Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have developed a way to extend the lifetime of Dicke quantum batteries by up to 1,000 times, while maintaining their fast-charging properties enabled by superradiance.

Researchers have used the jellyfish search algorithm to optimize solar PV distributed generation placement and sizing. They have tested the algorithm on an IEEE 33-bus system, with one, two, or three PV deployment scenarios, and compared its performance with that of a dozen of competing optimization techniques.

The Dutch government said it remains vigilant on potential cybersecurity threats coming from solar inverters. It minimized, however, the risk of hidden hardware components in inverters and said these devices would be “easily detectable” by the Dutch authorities.

The European Commission has told pv magazine that it will unlikely prioritize operating expenditure (opex) support for solar and clean technology manufacturers, citing concerns about potential market distortion, even as insolvencies rise across the European PV sector.

French solar installer France Solar has entered liquidation after failing to secure a buyer, following its placement in receivership on April 28.

Quantum dot technology promises to boost bifacial solar module output. The company entered into a supply agreement with specialist UbiQD.

In a new scientific paper published in nature, the Chinese manufacturer presented a new tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell based on a bottom cell with a heterojunction design. It also used a new type of self-assembled monolayer that reportedly reduces non-radiative recombination and increases cell efficiency.

More than half of the first phase of the 3.5 GW solar and 4.5 GWh battery storage MTerra Solar project in the Philippines is now complete, eight months after its groundbreaking. The 778 MW of solar installed so far makes it the largest solar installation in the country.

eCap Marine says it will supply 8 MW of hydrogen fuel cell systems for four zero-emission vessels under construction for Norway’s Møre Sjø and logistics firm Samskip, with deliveries expected in 2027.

The Aquarea DHW Heat Pump utilizes propane as the refrigerant and is reportedly able to reach maximum temperatures of 65 C. The standalone unit supports PV contact and is compatible with external recirculation pumps.

China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), the world’s largest battery manufacturer, has filed a lawsuit accusing fast-growing rival Hithium of unfair competition – a move that could jeopardize Hithium’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.

Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of battery storage in the second quarter of 2025, with year-to-date volumes up nearly 50% from 2024. The company recorded flat quarterly growth and says its 10 GWh Nevada cell factory is close to completion.