Technology and R&D

Spain’s grid operator Red Eléctrica and regulator CNMC have launched real-time voltage control services, allowing renewable energy installations to provide dynamic grid support under a new regulatory framework.

A Japanese consortium is piloting agrivoltaics using film-type perovskite solar cells over rice paddies to study energy generation alongside crop production. The three-year project will assess impacts on rice yield, land use, and emissions while testing the technology’s performance and commercial viability.

Australia’s national science agency says AI-driven robots could reshape solar maintenance across large-scale PV projects after successfully trialing the cutting-edge technology.

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.

Swansea University researchers found that perovskite solar cells can tolerate dusty fabrication environments, performing almost as well as those made in cleanrooms. The findings suggest low-cost, scalable production may be possible without ultra-sterile conditions, potentially accelerating cell and module manufacturing.

Job advertisements on Tesla’s website outline the 100 GW ambition and follow reports the company is in talks with Chinese firms for the purchase of $2.9 billion worth of equipment for solar manufacturing.

Data centers are using batteries to run more AI on the same grid connection.

Researchers at Ulm University and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena have built a molecular system that captures solar energy in a water-soluble redox copolymer, stores it at more than 80% charging efficiency for several days, and releases it as hydrogen with 72% conversion efficiency whenever required.

Researchers in China demonstrated that integrating energy tower heat pumps with evaporator-side boilers, air-source heat pumps, or solar-assisted systems can significantly improve winter heating efficiency and economic performance in commercial buildings. Among the four configurations tested, the evaporator-side boiler and solar-assisted systems delivered the highest performance and energy savings, offering a sustainable, low-carbon alternative to conventional heating.

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.