Women in Solar+ Europe (WiSEu Network) analyzes how psychological safety, inclusive leadership, and bias awareness influence decision-making, innovation, and energy security after hosting a workshop during the SolarPower Summit this week. Through interactive discussions and real-life scenarios, participants reflected on the growing importance of human judgment, trust, and collaboration in an AI-driven industry, highlighting that resilient energy systems are ultimately built not only through technology, but also through people and leadership.

UK-based consultancy Ricardo, part of the WSP Group, reports that EU-27 day-ahead power markets saw 1,223 negative-price hours in Q1 2026, more than double Q1 2025, driven mainly by Spain, Portugal, and Greece, while Nordic markets fell back to zero after prior spikes. Germany’s April 2026 data shows negative prices aligning with large renewable forecast errors and likely curtailment during oversupply periods.

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 single benchmark no longer exists. In some cases, charging speed is what matters; in others, it is energy density, and in still others, cost and scalability. In other words, the battery is ceasing to be a simple component. It is becoming the transversal energy infrastructure of the next industrial cycle. And those who can control not only the technology but also production, integration, and the grid will have an advantage that will be difficult to recover.

Women in Solar+ Europe highlights this week the insights shared by industry leaders during the panel “Impact Leadership in Solar & Storage: securing the energy transition through people, purpose and systems thinking,” organised by the leadership ecosystem Solar+ Leaders at Solar & Storage Live London. Bringing together voices from across the value chain, the discussion explored how leadership is evolving in response to growing system complexity, skills gaps, and the need for greater alignment across the industry.

Kalyon PV has launched a new 1 GW solar cell factory in Ankara, raising its total cell production capacity to 2.1 GW

China’s leading solar manufacturers all reported first-quarter net losses, despite improving margins and continued high shipment volumes across the sector.

The Czech government is reviewing proposals to streamline procedures for new solar power plants, including increasing the threshold for paying electricity tax to 100 kW and preventing double taxation on projects installing both solar and storage.

Nel ASA states that its new electrolyzer can achieve an estimated turnkey full-scope cost of below $1,450 per kW for a 25 MW plant, with additional cost synergies expected at larger scales.

A program designed to finance solar projects for local authorities in Palestine has opened with an initial $25 million investment from the Palestine Monetary Authority in collaboration with Austria, Finland and Norway.

At the Solarpower Summit in Brussels, two Ukrainian representatives highlighted the role photovoltaics and battery storage can play in the country, as well as the lessons the European Union can draw from Ukraine’s experience of living through war. Particular emphasis was placed on systems installed at hospitals and schools.

A remote Western Australia First Nations community with its sights set on reducing diesel dependence and energy insecurity has had a solar and 3.25 MW battery energy storage project approved for development.

A China-based research team conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 147 studies on how solar PV systems alter land surface processes, covering 609 installations worldwide and 11 key climate variables. The results show mixed but mostly significant environmental effects, including reduced wind speed, albedo, and land surface or soil temperatures, alongside increased soil moisture, while air temperature changes remained largely non-significant.

Finnish energy company Fortum has switched on two industrial-scale heat pumps in southern Finland that will utilize excess heat from two local data centres belonging to Microsoft from next year. The company states data centre waste heat could cover around 40% of the total 2 TWh annual district heating demand of users in the area.

The German manufacturer launched two mounting systems for utility-scale solar projects and small- and medium-scale installations, respectively. Both are designed to streamline installation with simplified components and modular layouts.

Germany risks leaving taxpayers liable for at least €34.7 billion ($40.8 billion) in unrecovered hydrogen infrastructure costs by 2055, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) says in a new report, putting the true regulated cost base at approaching €50 billion against the commonly cited €19.8 billion construction figure.

U.S. researchers developed a meta-weakly solvating electrolyte that optimizes sodium-ion solvation structure, enabling faster ion transport, reduced side reactions, and improved interfacial stability in high-voltage sodium-ion batteries. This design significantly extends cycle life and outperforms conventional and localized high-concentration electrolytes by promoting more uniform and stable electrode–electrolyte interfaces.

An international research team has improved the performance of perovskite indoor photovoltaics by tuning the absorber bandgap to better match the emission spectrum of indoor LED lighting. The approach enables improved spectral alignment under low-light conditions, with devices demonstrating efficiencies of up to 37.44% alongside long-term stability exceeding 2,000 hours.

Project owner told ESS News that fire at one of the UK’s oldest grid-scale BESS projects was caused by fault with nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) technology used in some early UK BESS projects. The fire occurred days before scheduled augmentation to upgrade Rufford Colliery BESS site.

The Austrian manufacturer said its new glass-glass module features 108 back-contact TOPCon half-cells and a power conversion efficiency of 23.52%.

In the latest article of a new series on solar manufacturing facilities around the world, pv magazine presents SoliTek’s solar manufacturing facility in Vilnius, Lithuania. The company recently commissioned an upgraded 200 MW production line, as it transitions from semi-automated to fully-automated processes for critical assembly stages.

In late April, a 200 km urban road test was conducted in Belgium under real-world traffic conditions and varying levels of solar irradiance to evaluate system performance in complex operational environments. The test serves as the final validation of the vehicle’s systems.

The Portuguese manufacturer unveiled Maxi-Lock, an autonomous hydraulic mechanism that locks solar trackers during strong wind gusts or high-amplitude vibrations, and Smart-Slope, a universal joint-style system designed for uneven terrain. The company claims the technologies can reduce supply and maintenance costs, lower component counts, improve plant availability, and enable higher PV module integration in both conventional and agrivoltaic projects.

Scientists from the University of New England’s Australian Institute for Strategic Artificial Intelligence are using artificial intelligence and powerful supercomputers to assess potential solvents to separate silicon wafers with minimal contamination.

Propelled by a select group of high-capacity manufacturers including T1 Energy and Canadian Solar, Texas is set to exceed 15 GW of solar PV module production in 2026, accounting for nearly half of all U.S. silicon-based manufacturing and serving as the primary hub for the inaugural Solar Manufacturing USA conference in Austin this September.

Continuous negative and zero wholesale electricity prices, weak demand, and Greece’s inadequate energy storage policy are leaving small- and medium-sized PV investors exposed, despite abundant solar resources.

An international research team has developed and tested a hybrid energy system combining photovoltaic-thermal collectors, borehole thermal energy storage, and a dual-source heat pump to supply low-carbon heating for livestock buildings. The full-scale prototype, demonstrated on an Italian swine farm, showed high efficiency, strong seasonal performance, and reduced reliance on fossil fuels while enabling partial self-supply of electricity and heat.

The Valdecañas pumped-storage hydro plant in southwestern Spain has undergone a technical upgrade, increasing its operational capacity by 355 MW and adding a 15 MW/7.5 MWh hybrid battery system.

Lade GmbH has unveiled an AC system that supports charging at up to 22 kW in both single-phase and three-phase configurations. The hardware is already designed to enable bidirectional charging in large-scale charging parks.

National Bank of Egypt has acquired a 20% equity interest in Scatec ASA’s 1.1 GW Obelisk solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) project, reducing the Norwegian developer’s economic interest to 40% while leaving it in majority control through a layered ownership structure.