Inverters

SMA Solar Technology AG says revenue declined slightly and losses widened significantly in 2025 due to weak demand and one-off effects from its restructuring program.

Researchers found that widely deployed smart meters pose a “massive” cybersecurity risk, potentially enabling data manipulation, energy theft, and service disruption. They propose a new detection method using state estimation and statistical boundaries to more accurately identify cyberattacks, outperforming traditional techniques despite higher computational demands.

In an interview with pv magazine, Jay Johnson, the CTO of US-based cybersecurity firm DERSec, explains that PV systems face cybersecurity risks that extend far beyond inverters, as demonstrated by a December attack on Polish solar plants where wiper malware targeted substation equipment rather than the inverters themselves. Vulnerabilities often lie in backhaul communication channels like APIs and mobile apps, making layered defenses, network segmentation, and vigilant monitoring essential to safeguard distributed energy resources.

Invertix has launched 22 specialized AI “workers” to automate O&M tasks for renewable energy assets, targeting inefficiencies in data handling, alarm management, and reporting. The startup says its system enables PV plant operators to scale portfolios more efficiently by reducing manual workloads, while keeping humans in the loop for critical decisions.

In an interview with pv magazine, cybersecurity expert Mohammad Al Faruque explains how seemingly simple sensors in PV systems and other energy systems are surprisingly vulnerable to magnetic, electrical, and acoustic perturbations, which can remotely influence control systems without physical access. Protecting these sensors requires both strict physical security and the development of hardened, interference-resistant technology to safeguard critical infrastructure.

Germany’s solar sector is reporting a surge in inquiries following the military escalation between Israel, the United States, and Iran, with E.ON citing a doubling of demand for solar installations. Other industry participants are more cautious, attributing much of the increase to seasonal patterns rather than geopolitical anxiety.

In an interview with pv magazine, cybersecurity expert Roberto Setola describes a structural shift in cyber threats against solar energy infrastructure, where attacks now target peripheral systems like remote terminal units rather than centralized SCADA, often in coordinated campaigns amplified by AI. He also emphasized that the recent cyberattack to PV plants in Poland demonstrated how simultaneous strikes on smaller, less-protected operators can potentially trigger major disruptions, including blackouts, economic losses, and cascading grid risks.

Sandia National Laboratories conducted the first-ever blind comparison of seven commercial PV modeling software, revealing that differences in weather handling, system modeling, derates, and assumptions grow as system complexity increases. The study emphasizes that software choice should consider project complexity, workflow, and modeling features rather than relying on rankings alone.

Researchers in Brazil have developed a weighted PV inverter efficiency methodology that accounts for country-specific solar irradiance and operating conditions. The approach is designed to address the limitations of international metrics by incorporating variables such as input voltage and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) performance.

The Nexis solution combines a flexibly configurable hybrid inverter with a modular high-voltage battery offering up to 14 kW charging capacity per stack. The inverter delivers 8–20 kW AC power, supports up to 200% DC oversizing, and features IP65-rated design with integrated backup power.