Commercial & Industrial PV

Spain has expanded its energy community programme with 20 new projects, bringing the national total to 262 and unlocking €108.4 million in EU-backed funding. Unevenly distributed across regions, the energy communities deployed in Spain to date combine solar generation, storage, efficiency, and mobility solutions, delivering 175.3 MW of PV capacity and involving more than 111,000 citizens.

The Czech government is reviewing proposals to streamline procedures for new solar power plants, including increasing the threshold for paying electricity tax to 100 kW and preventing double taxation on projects installing both solar and storage.

Bhutan has kicked off a tender to develop 12.1 MW of rooftop solar across 73 public healthcare facilities in the country. The initial deadline to submit expressions of interest is May 29.

At the Solarpower Summit in Brussels, two Ukrainian representatives highlighted the role photovoltaics and battery storage can play in the country, as well as the lessons the European Union can draw from Ukraine’s experience of living through war. Particular emphasis was placed on systems installed at hospitals and schools.

A China-based research team conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 147 studies on how solar PV systems alter land surface processes, covering 609 installations worldwide and 11 key climate variables. The results show mixed but mostly significant environmental effects, including reduced wind speed, albedo, and land surface or soil temperatures, alongside increased soil moisture, while air temperature changes remained largely non-significant.

The German manufacturer launched two mounting systems for utility-scale solar projects and small- and medium-scale installations, respectively. Both are designed to streamline installation with simplified components and modular layouts.

The Austrian manufacturer said its new glass-glass module features 108 back-contact TOPCon half-cells and a power conversion efficiency of 23.52%.

An international research team has developed and tested a hybrid energy system combining photovoltaic-thermal collectors, borehole thermal energy storage, and a dual-source heat pump to supply low-carbon heating for livestock buildings. The full-scale prototype, demonstrated on an Italian swine farm, showed high efficiency, strong seasonal performance, and reduced reliance on fossil fuels while enabling partial self-supply of electricity and heat.

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) says it will install 95 MW of solar capacity across 500 substation sites nationwide by 2030, using surplus substation land to meet South Korea’s K-RE100 public-sector renewable energy target.

Two of Argentine’s most popular football clubs – River Plate and Vélez Sarsfield – are advancing solar energy projects at their Buenos Aires stadiums to cut operating costs and expand on-site renewable generation.