Policy

Hungary has decided to allow apartment owners to jointly install solar panels and will only permit solar plants equipped with grid-connected inverters from July 2025.

The proposed virtual power plant (VPP) integrates a platform-to-ship (P2S) setup to electrify anchored and bunkering ships, while also providing surplus electricity to the country’s grid. The system was designed to operate through a 200 MW floating wind farm and a 300 MW floating PV plant, with battery and compressed air systmes being used for energy storage.

Federally controlled reservoirs could generate 861 GW to 1,042 GW of floating solar power across the United States, according to a new study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will provide more than half a billion dollars in loans to add nearly 1 GWh of capacity via Convergent, to build and operate utility-scale solar-plus-storage in Puerto Rico, improving grid resilience.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) says its feed-in tariff (FIT) for PV systems up to 10 kW in size will be maintained at TWD 5.7055 ($0.17)/kWh, with the aim of further supporting homeowners and small businesses adopting solar.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Ines Monroy, founder of Spain-based Licenciasocial.energy. She says the global renewable energy industry should be prepared to adress the so-called authority gap. “When I’ve adopted a neutral, professional tone to convey directives or focus on problem-solving, I’ve been met with comments suggesting that my approach was ‘bossy’ or ‘too harsh.’ My impression is that this reaction stems from ingrained stereotypes that expect women to be overly accommodating, even in roles where decisiveness and objectivity are critical,” she states.

Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson spoke to pv magazine about recent research work showing that California could easily rely on a wind-water-solar-dominated large grid. He says the state’s current electricity prices are high because of several reasons that have nothing to do with renewables. These include high fossil gas prices and the cost upgrading aging transmission and distribution lines, among others.

The authorities in China’s Jiangsu province have launched an offshore solar development plan (2025-30), targeting 27.25 GW from 60 projects. The plan aims to connect 10 GW of offshore solar to the grid by 2027, with a goal of up to 20 GW by 2030.

The Saudi Power Procurement Company has announced its list of 33 prequalified biders for its massive 2 GW/8 GWh BESS tender.

As the penetration of variable renewable energy increases, curtailment of solar PV generation will only increase. Since curtailment will almost always be cheaper than investing in new transmission capacity or new grid-scale storage, curtailed energy should be rewarded, so that PV investment decisions can include curtailment as one of the flexibility options for grid operators.