Policy

Nuclear plants generated a record amount of power in 2024, surpassing record set in 2006, but industry optimism is not backed by economic data or investment, says the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2025.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Maria Gil, Business Development EU at Spain’s Solargrade. She says that real change in the energy industry only comes when companies and institutions move beyond statements and consistently turn policies into sustained action. “As the sector grows and requires more workers, it must bring in talent with equity at its core, ensuring inclusion moves from policy documents into everyday practice,” she states.

The Dutch government says large-scale solar panel production is no longer viable, closing its SolarNL incentives to building- and vehicle-integrated products, heterojunction modules, and perovskite-silicon tandem panels.

A Japanese research team has evaluated the affordability of photovoltaic-battery systems featuring heat-pump water heaters and air conditioning units across nine regions of Japan. They analyzed three price policies and two loan types, identifiying a tradeoff between net demand and cost according to the capacity of the solar-plus-storage system.

The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) says all solar modules bound for the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom must come from manufacturing sites certified for both environmental, social and governance standards and supply chain traceability by early 2028.

By the end of 2025, installing a smart meter will be mandatory for PV-powered homes in Belgium’s Flanders region. According to grid operator Fluvius, a group of homeowners who installed solar panels between 2014 and the end of 2020 remain eligible for a retroactive investment premium.

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) plans to add solar wafers to its Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) from June 1, 2028, requiring government-backed projects to use wafers, cells, and modules from registered suppliers.

The city of Grand Nancy, France, awarded a 6.8 MW solar carport tender to Holosolis, tying the 2027 project to its planned 5 GW factory in the Grand Est region.

Saudi Power Procurement Co. (SPPC) has announced a request for qualification (RFQ) for 3.1 GW of solar capacity across four projects in the seventh round of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy tender program.

With German solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) down 87%, a panel of experts argued that hybrid solar-plus-storage projects are now the only bankable path forward.