As the solar wave sweeps across Europe, creaking grids are emphasizing the continent’s overriding need for energy storage.

Solar is not only helping to keep the lights on in Ukraine – it also has a vital role as part of Europe’s energy transition and clean energy economy.

In the first week of June, prices of most European electricity markets fell and some negative prices were registered, thanks to the decrease in demand and prices of gas and CO2, and to the increase of renewable energy production in some cases. However, prices rose in the Nord Pool and MIBEL markets, with the latter being the highest weekly price, something that did not happen since the first week of November. A record photovoltaic energy production was registered in Germany on June 3.

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 a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, presents the solar irradiance data it collected for North America in May. New York registered a new record on May 18th, when solar power met 20% of the state power demand, while Los Angeles and San Diego rooftops actually received less irradiance during May than New York’s or Boston’s.

The first post-pandemic update on the state of the world’s off-grid solar industry has painted a picture of domination by European companies, but highlighted the potential for new startups in West Africa and an increasing use of PV as a backup to unreliable grid supplies.

The off-grid solar sector has shown resilience in the face of pandemic-related challenges, with 70 million people gaining access to electricity from early 2020 to the end of 2021. However, the ability to pay for solar energy kits has taken a hit.

The African Development Bank has announced that European and US donors will provide $20 million of concessional loans to support pay-as-you-go solar companies in sub-Saharan Africa.

With comparisons with a Covid-hit 2020 inevitably offering a string of positive numbers, there was also little to concern the board of the inverter and battery manufacturer from the returns generated in the last quarter.

The latest edition of a clean power jobs survey produced by IRENA and the International Labour Organization has stressed the important role which will need to be played by the public sector if the energy transition’s employment benefits are to be shared equally.

A flurry of clean energy announcements in the European Union this year bodes well for the expansion of renewables but there will be a race against time to get key legislation adopted before next summer’s European elections.

The first half of 2023 has seen a revival in Ukraine’s solar market as some plants resumed operations, including in recently liberated territories. Demand is also picking up among industrial consumers that wish to be less dependent on the common energy grid in case outages return, reports Ian Skarytovsky.

V-Tac’s new VESS Mini and VESS Mini Plus battery energy storage systems are designed for use with utility-scale and industrial PV systems.

pv magazine: DAS Solar has recently reached 30 GW of TOPCon module capacity and is now planning to scale it up to 50 GW by the end of 2024. How is it possible to deploy all this capacity in only two years? :

The solar industry had its best first quarter in history as supply chain challenges fade, according to US Solar Market Insight Q2 2023 report.

Sunway’s new three-phase hybrid inverters have efficiency ratings of up to 98.2% and European efficiency ratings of 97.4%. They are available in seven versions, with power outputs ranging from 15 kW to 33 kW.

The US lender has awarded the loan to deploy two large scale solar power plants to Angola’s Ministry of Energy and Water.

In January, Germany’s RWE and Greece’s PPC electric utilities inked an agreement to develop five photovoltaic parks at a former coal mine region in Greece. Yesterday, the RWE and PPC joint venture signed the power purchase agreements (PPAs) concerning three of the five solar farms, selling the generated electricity to local utility Heron.

New research shows that floating PV plants may have superior generating capabilities than ground-mounted PV plants in several areas of Bangladesh. Furthermore, the study indicates that floating arrays in the country may reach a levelized cost of energy ranging from $0.0341/kWh to $$0.0486/kWh depending on the location.

Former Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Guy Debelle has warned that the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) poses a “material threat” to Australia’s push to become a green hydrogen superpower.

The Biden administration sees in the hydrogen sector an opportunity to “strengthen its energy leadership.” Meanwhile, Plug Power announced it would supply fuel cells for long-term storage during wildfires and emergencies in California, and Hystar signed its first deal to sell its PEM electrolyzers. Solvay and Sapio to build a hydrogen production plant by mid-2026 with a 9.5 MW PV installation.

NASA and SpaceX have successfully launched two new roll-out solar arrays, known as IROSA, to enhance the energy production capacity of the International Space Station’s microgravity complex. These arrays will provide an expanded and efficient power source for the space station’s operations.

A group of researchers and data scientists from the Chesapeake Conservatory studied the construction of solar energy facilities in states surrounding the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and found that solar developments on already cultivated land did not adversely impact biodiversity.

The Melbourne Market Authority has switched on a 2.4 MW solar carpark at its facility in Melbourne, Australia. It is the first phase of a three-stage project that will culminate in a 10 MW rooftop system.

PVcase, a Lithuanian PV software company, has acquired Anderson Optimization and says the integration of the US-based firm’s software could allow it to slash design times from weeks to just 20 minutes.

Zonergy has developed a 2.5 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery system including an inverter with an output ranging from 8 kW to 15 kW. It says four to 16 modules can be combined for between 10 kWh and 40 kWh of energy storage capacity.

A research group from Ireland developed a PVT system consisting of a 170 W photovoltaic panel connected to a water tank placed at the backside of the PV module itself. The PVT module is able to considerably reduce the temperature of the PV unit while producing hot water for residential use.

A Spanish-Finnish research team has fabricated an IBC solar cell with an ultrathin black silicon wafer with a thickness of 40 µm. The device is based on vanadium oxide and laser-processed phosphorus-doped silicon carbide stacks as hole and electron transport layers, respectively.

Shoals Technologies has filed a patent infringement complaint against Hikam America and Voltage, LLC, with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

Chinese manufacturer Akcome has released a new line of heterojunction solar panels with a nominal power capacity ranging between 710 W and 730 W and a conversion efficiency of 22.80% to 23.50%.

ONGC Tripura Power Co. (OTPC) and Assam Power Distribution Co. Ltd. (APDCL) have set up a joint venture to deploy a 250 MW/500 MWh battery in Assam, India.

Torrent Power has signed a deal with the Maharashtra state government in India to set up 5.7 GW of pumped hydro storage capacity, while NHPC, a state-owned hydropower producer, is actively exploring pumped storage projects across multiple states in the country.

Japan has announced plans to invest $150 billion in hydrogen over the next decade, while Malaysia has revealed that it will invest in solar and hydrogen under a new energy roadmap. Separately, Kansai Electric Power and Canada’s ATCO have agreed to collaborate on a feasibility study for green hydrogen supplies.

Germany’s MAN Energy Solutions has supplied two 50 MW seawater heat pumps for district heating at the port of Esbjerg, Denmark. They use CO2 as a refrigerant and will be powered by nearby wind farms. The project will start producing 350,000 MWh of heat per year in the fall.

India’s Lohum has designed a 5 kWh energy storage system in collaboration with MG Motor India, as part of efforts to develop second-life solutions for used EV batteries.