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.

Strategic agreement will see California-based renewables developer ramp up sodium-ion battery deployment. Deal follows Alsym Energy entering 8.5 GWh partnership with iron flow battery business ESS.

The 136 MW Itimpi II solar plant is Zambia’s largest operational solar project to date. Elsewhere in the country, an investment agreement has been signed to add 250 MW of solar to the 100 MW Nambala solar power plant.

Insurers tell pv magazine that severe convective storms (SCS) drove $60 billion in insured losses in 2025, a mounting toll that has become the primary force tightening capacity and raising prices across the solar energy insurance market.

AleaSoft Energy Forecasting’s latest analysis finds the weekly average electricity price was above €100 ($117.45)/MWh in most major European markets last week, bar the Portuguese, French and Spanish markets. 

The latest round of Germany’s PV tender scheme was largely oversubscibed.

Scientists in Morocco have conceived an experimental–numerical model to quantify how fly ash soiling affects photovoltaic (PV) modules, capturing both optical losses and thermal effects. Their findings show that while dust layers can reduce panel temperature, fly ash significantly degrades efficiency in a non-linear way, highlighting the need for predictive models for real-world solar performance.

The fire spread beneath the roof structure and required extensive manual dismantling of PV-integrated components before being fully extinguished. A firefighter was injured by electric shock during the blaze.

The New Zealand government has ordered a review into the installation of residential and small- to medium-scale solar as it seeks to accelerate the rollout of rooftop PV.

Zendure has launched PowerHub, a new energy management system for homes and small commercial sites that integrates solar PV, battery storage, grid power, EV charging, heat pumps, and smart home devices into one platform. The system supports up to 150 kWh storage capacity and up to 43 kW three-phase PV input, while the 3-phase version enables EV charging at up to 22 kW.

Severe shortages of power transformers are stalling grid expansion as developers face skyrocketing prices and four year wait times for critical equipment.

The Chinese manufacturer said its novel TOPCon cell design enables partial replacement of silver with aluminum paste while maintaining TOPCon-level efficiency of over 27% and compatibility with existing production lines.

Chinese researchers developed an all-perovskite tandem solar cell using a non-contact laser polishing strategy that reduces surface defects and improves charge extraction in lead-tin perovskite films. The device achieved up to 29.80% tandem efficiency, with the bottom cell improving from 19.64% to 24.07% and showing strong operational stability under continuous illumination.

The automotive giant has formally unveiled Ford Energy, its new battery energy storage subsidiary, alongside initial details of its flagship grid-scale energy storage product.

Drax has completed a PV installation at the Glenlee hydropower station in Scotland, marking the first of eight planned solar projects across its hydro sites in Galloway and Lanark.

Researchers in Brazil have developed and simulated a hybrid tidal–PV floating farm concept for estuarine channels, analyzing wake effects, turbine spacing and hybrid energy trade-offs. Results show that integrating PV with hydrokinetic turbines improves overall energy yield by offsetting wake-related losses and optimizing modular farm configurations.

The proposed inverted perovskite solar cell design reduces band misalignment and electron accumulation, suppressing recombination losses and enabling high efficiency in both small-area devices and scalable modules.

Private equity firm FH Capital reached an agreement to acquire a 75.1% majority stake in JinkoSolar’s U.S. manufacturing subsidiary to expand domestic module and battery production.

CEA’s 2026 manufacturing quality report finds that yield rates vary widely based on the age of solar module assembly facilities, with mature Chinese firms nearing 100% and U.S. outlier facilities ranging all the way down to 30%.

China strongly criticized the EU’s ban on Chinese inverters in EU-funded solar projects, warning it could damage trade relations, supply chains, and Europe’s energy transition.

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

The Italian manufacturer has expanded its propane monobloc heat pump range with new models delivering up to 85 C flow temperature and achieving a seasonal coefficient of performance of 4.95.

The CEO of Irish PV association Solar Ireland, Ronan Power, told pv magazine that despite a healthy project pipeline and investor appetite, ground-mounted PV projects are not being delivered as fast as they could be. A national clearing house to provide more defined communication at the early stages would help developers deliver faster.

Adani Green Energy has commissioned a 150 MW solar project at the Khavda renewable energy complex in Gujarat, which is planned to reach 30 GW by 2029,

A record year, and an incredibly strong outlook for the energy storage sector.

A research team in Italy developed a PVT-driven heat pump system for domestic hot water production that combines packed-bed latent heat storage with sensible thermal storage to better balance supply and demand. Their simulations showed that hybrid storage coupled with temperature-based routing significantly improves system efficiency, raising heat pump coefficient of performance and increasing renewable energy utilization.