The U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran is unlikely to materially affect solar manufacturing projects in the Middle East for now, as most of these investments remain at an early stage. OPIS analyst Brian Ng sees the most immediate risk in logistics. If disruptions persist, shipments of solar products into the region could be delayed and export pricing may turn volatile.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Ilse Cappelle, Head of Marketing & E-commerce at Netherlands’ Libra Energy. She explains how returning from maternity leave directly into a leadership role showed her the company’s strong support for career growth and work-life balance.

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.

Solar energy, driven by excellent resource conditions and rapidly improving economic attractiveness, is expected to emerge as a bulk energy supplier in future energy systems. The self-limiting effects of solar power can be circumvented through solar-hybrid solutions, such as PV-geothermal hybrid configurations.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that Saharan dust caused widespread panel soiling in southern Europe in early May, while much of central and eastern Europe benefitted from above-average solar resources. Favourable conditions broke down later in the month as cold polar air and a powerful storm system brought cloud, snow and damaging winds to many parts of the continent.

Ransomware attacks encrypt or lock critical PV system data and control platforms, preventing operators from accessing or managing their assets until a ransom is paid. These attacks can disrupt operations, reduce energy production, and create safety risks, making robust backups, segmentation, and incident response essential for resilience.

Oman’s Naqaa Sustainable Energy LLC is set to design, finance, construct and operate a 500 MW solar project in northwestern Botswana. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to take place later this week.

The nation’s latest call for long-term power purchase agreements focuses on supplying the national grid with wind and solar projects, specifically mandating integrated battery storage systems to ensure grid resilience.

Reliance Industries Ltd has become the first company to secure the inclusion of heterojunction solar cells in the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) published by India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

The Italian manufacturer has launched a compact range of propane air-to-water heat pumps for heating, cooling, and domestic hot water in residential and light commercial applications, offering up to 15.5 kW heating capacity, a seasonal coefficient of performance of up to 5.18, and water temperatures up to 80 C.

Scientists in Chile have developed a low-cost, easy-to-deploy hydrogen system powered by end-of-life solar panels. The residential solution reportedly achieves a levelized cost of hydrogen of approximately $5.8/kg.

Researchers in China found that PV plants in arid regions create a measurable cool island effect that varies strongly with season, location, and plant design, influencing surrounding vegetation in complex and spatially uneven ways. They showed that cooling intensity and distance differ widely across sites, are driven mainly by plant morphology,

The new provisions published by the country’s energy regulator are aimed to adjust the technical and administrative criteria for distributed generation, particularly with regard to energy storage, installed capacity limits, and interconnection procedures.

Researchers in Austria discovered a wasp nest inside the junction box of a 1998 rooftop PV module, illustrating how insects can exploit even sealed electrical components. The affected module showed significant degradation and partial failure, though overall results confirmed the surprising durability of older PV module designs.

Man-in-the-middle attacks are a serious threat to networked PV systems, allowing attackers to intercept, modify, or disrupt communications, potentially causing operational failures, physical damage, financial losses, and safety hazards. Effective defense requires a layered approach combining encryption, strong authentication, network segmentation, firewalls, IDS, and continuous monitoring to detect, prevent, and limit the impact of such attacks.

An ongoing collaboration between Australia’s Halocell Energy and U.S-based Sofab Inks finds that perovskite modules incorporating Sofab’s Tinfab electron transport layer maintain approximately 100% of their normalized efficiency after 1,300 hours under accelerated combined light and damp-heat testing.

An international research group has developed a novel solar module passive cooling system that integrates three-dimensional oscillating heat pipe (3D-OHP) with different combinations of nanofluids based on hybrid graphene oxide (GO) and a two-dimensional titanium carbide known as MXene (Ti3C2Tx). MXene compounds take their name from their graphene-like morphology and are made via selective etching of […]

San Francisco-based Merino Energy has launched the Merino Mono, a plug-and-play indoor heat pump that can be installed in under an hour and is priced at a flat $3,800 including installation.

Adana-based WHS introduced a PV-powered water heating system that operates without an inverter, using 1.6 kW of direct DC solar input with integrated MPPT. The system supports hybrid operation with a 2 kW AC backup, runs at extra-low voltage of less than 50 V, delivers around 3 kWh/day of thermal energy, and heats water to 65–85 C for residential and small commercial use.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences say a polymerizable non-flammable electrolyte improves safety in sodium-ion batteries while maintaining performance.

A Czech team developed an IoT system using MQTT to autonomously cool PV panels, boosting daily energy yield by 7.38% with a positive net energy balance.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have reduced silver consumption in solar cell metallization to 1.1 mg/Wp using an electrodeposition-based process, down from current levels of 10–12 mg/Wp.

A new UNSW study shows that laser-enhanced contact optimization (LECO) can boost industrial TOPCon solar cell efficiency by improving contact properties and reducing recombination losses. By combining optimized firing conditions with LECO “repair” of contacts, the approach balances recombination and resistance, offering a practical path for conventional TOPCon cells to compete with PV technologies offering higher efficiencies.

Polysilicon prices have fallen sharply over recent weeks due to persistent oversupply and weakening demand, briefly dipping to low levels before stabilizing slightly above CNY 50 ($7.31)/kg, though still near historical lows and below production costs. OPIS analyst Summer Zhang tells pv magazine that despite policy signals and potential future regulations, unclear implementation and continued excess capacity mean market conditions remain weak, with further demand declines and possible production cuts or discounted sales expected in the near term.

A research team has developed a solvent-free method using ultrasonic cavitation to delaminate end-of-life crystalline-silicon PV modules, fully separating the glass and front EVA layer while partially releasing c-Si fragments. The proposed approach achieved an 82.2% mass-based delamination efficiency, highlighting ultrasonic cavitation as a sustainable alternative for PV module recycling.

The rollout is accelerated to eliminate the use of diesel from iron ore mining and processing.

BMW says its new hydrogen tank enables longer range and flexible production, while South Korea has revealed plans to develop large-scale liquid hydrogen storage systems.

China’s Envision has launched a 12.5 MWh battery storage system and started production of a 790 Ah lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell, as it advances an AI-driven storage strategy.

The new Anker Solix Solarbank Max AC steps up from balcony-scale storage with a 3.5 kW inverter, plug-in capabilities for do-it-yourself (DIY) ease of installation, and expandability to 42 kWh, priced from €2,229.

In its first monthly column for pv magazine, experts from UK-based consultancy Ricardo, part of the WSP Group, explain how UK will soon allow low-cost plug-in solar panels under 800 W to be installed without a qualified electrician, making home solar more affordable and accessible. These portable systems, expected on sale by summer 2026, could significantly boost household solar adoption while complementing the country’s wider renewable energy growth.