Policy

Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure says its 100,000 Solar Roofs Program aims to add 1.6 GW of new solar capacity by 2030.

Renewable energy developers in Moldova must now provide financial guarantees when applying for grid connection permits. The guarantees are refundable if projects become operational within agreed time frames.

Switzerland is expanding rules for rooftop solar, energy storage, and energy communities to expand self-consumption and ease pressure on the grid. The new regulations, set to take effect in 2026, introduce updated tariffs, encourage battery storage, and allow local electricity trading.

Virtual power plants, which could save state ratepayers an estimated $550 million per year, are connected aggregations of distributed energy resources like rooftop solar and energy storage.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Letizia Coradeschi, Investments at Switzerland’s SUSI Partners AG. She says that normalizing parental leave and flexible work schedules that support work-life balance would further help retain female talent past junior and mid-level positions. “Despite the hurdles, my personal experience led me to believe that, coupled with persistence and resilience, this is a space where women can thrive and lead,” she states.

The tender covers the design, supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of three proposed projects to be based at Tambo International Airport, King Shaka International Airport, and Cape Town International Airport. Closing dates for submission is March 17.

The French authorities intend to allocate 400 MW of PV capacity through the procurement exercise, which is open to PV installations exceeding 500 kW in size.

In an exclusive interview with pv magazine, ACWA Power CEO Marco Arcelli said the Saudi energy giant is currently exploring opportunities to build a hydrogen corridor between Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. He spoke about the company’s current 2 GW hydrogen project in Neom and presented the company’s plans for renewable energy and desalination.

Photovoltaics continues adding capacity at a rapid pace, and 2024 was another record year for solar PV deployment. In the meantime, despite recent hurdles to widespread adoption in some countries, electric vehicle uptake grew 25% last year. Assuming a 10 kWh/day energy requirement for every new EV, the 17 million new EVs sold in 2024 would have added another 50-70 GW of new PV generation worldwide.

Last year’s solar additions, led by installations in the commercial and industrial sector, took Slovakia’s cumulative solar capacity to over 1 GW.