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 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.

Rystad Energy says capital expenditure on data centers reached USD 770 billion in 2025, matching investment levels in photovoltaic infrastructure and surpassing upstream oil and gas.

War in the Middle East is putting pressure on energy markets and boosting the value of solar and storage power purchase agreements (PPAs), with Europe seeing a surge in activity in March, according to Swiss consultancy Pexapark.

The European Union Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) is running a public consultation on the evolution of the bloc’s power purchase agreement (PPA) market to identify existing initiatives and challenges.

Spain’s grid operator Red Eléctrica and regulator CNMC have launched real-time voltage control services, allowing renewable energy installations to provide dynamic grid support under a new regulatory framework.

Researchers at Ulm University and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena have built a molecular system that captures solar energy in a water-soluble redox copolymer, stores it at more than 80% charging efficiency for several days, and releases it as hydrogen with 72% conversion efficiency whenever required.

Spain’s Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (Ciuden), a government energy research foundation, has completed operational testing of a 1 MW/8 MWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) system at its Cubillos del Sil technology center, which it says is the largest vanadium flow battery in Europe dedicated to applied research.

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (Entso-E) has published its final root cause report on the April 28, 2025, blackout in Spain and Portugal, finding failures across grid operations, generation, and regulations, and issuing 22 recommendations to strengthen European grid resilience.

The Silicon and New Concepts for Solar Cells (SyNC) research group at the Institute of Solar Energy (IES) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) has produced high-efficiency two-dimensional solar cell prototypes using the “hot-pick-up” technique, with simulations suggesting the cells could meet up to 30% of a building’s energy needs when applied to facades.