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.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, explains that the climatology of Africa leads to very different seasonal generation patterns from what European solar producers experience. Data analysed by Solcast, via the Solcast API, shows this seasonal variance from summer to winter in 2023.

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.

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.

Ghana’s Ministry of Energy is now welcoming applications for the design, supply and installation of 35 minigrid and solar PV net-metering projects to be located at a range of island and lakeside communities in the west African country.

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.

Brussels-based heat pump advocacy organization, the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), issued a stark warning today claiming that the industry is being largely impacted by inconsistent European laws and ‘unfavorable’ electricity to gas price ratios.

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 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.

Ireland’s Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and network operator EirGrid has revealed the 20 solar projects totaling 497 MW that were provisionally selected in the latest auction round of the country’s onshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS). The procurement exercise concluded with an average strike price of €0.10047($0.10596)/kWh.

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.

SolarPower Europe said in its latest report on EU solar jobs that the European solar industry employed 648,000 people at the end of 2022, up from 466,000 the year prior. It said the sector will reach 1 million full-time employees within three years.

Scientists in India utilized solar geometry to create a novel energy estimation model that reportedly accurately predicts both the front and back irradiance of bifacial PV modules. The model achieved correlation coefficients of 1.04 and 1.40 for the front and rear side, respectively.

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.

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.

Carbon electrode back-contacts for perovskite solar cells promise simpler, less energy-intense manufacturing, but low power conversion efficiency has held back adoption. However, this may change now, as researchers are overcoming the barriers to commercialization.

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.

Scientists in Australia have proposed to use a a propeller pico-hydropower turbine to recover the energy used for pumping water in a solar-powered commercial building. They have found that the mini hydro system is a relatively low-cost solution, able to recover approximately 10% of the energy used for pumping seawater.

This week, Longi and TCL Zhonghuan reduced slightly the prices of their wafer products. Meanwhile, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association reports strong ouput growth for the solar industry.

An international research group has analyzed a vertical bifacial agrivoltaics system in a drought-stricken part of Chile. They say that the solar array can improve water efficiency for crop irrigation, while the vertical system configuration optimizes PV power generation throughout the day, minimizing curtailment.

The Chinese manufacturer said TÜV SÜD confirmed the results. It launched the G12 series of heterojunction solar modules, with a focus on utility-scale projects, in the second half of 2022.

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

Scatec has turned on two solar-plus-storage facilities in northern Cameroon, with 30 MW of solar and 20 MW/19 MWh of energy storage.

Germany advanced its hydrogen ambitions this week with a fresh call for the International Green Hydrogen Promotion Program in Latin America, a collaborative deal with the UK government, and a tie-up between DHL and Sasol for sustainable aviation fuels based on green hydrogen (eSAF).

LG Energy Solution will soon release its lithium iron phosphate batteries in the European market, featuring compatibility with single-phase and three-phase inverters. The South Korean manufacturer will offer two configurations, with capacities of 12.4 kWh and 15.5 kWh.

Sunmaxx PVT, a photovoltaic-thermal solar module specialist, has started building an automated 50 MW module factory near Dresden, Germany.