Technology and R&D

Researchers have analyzed the biomass and nutritional value of grasses and legumes for grazing dairy cattle, growing in agrivoltaics fields. The results showed that forage quality may be maintained or even enhanced in agrivoltaic environments.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island explored why citizens who voiced pro-solar sentiments voted against a solar project development in a 2019 municipal referendum. Their analysis found objections over land use greatly outweigh proximity concerns.

Denial-of-service attacks overwhelm networked systems with massive traffic from compromised devices, disrupting communication and making critical services like PV system monitoring and control unavailable. They can cause operational instability, reduced energy production, and safety risks, requiring layered defenses such as filtering, redundancy, and automated mitigation to maintain system resilience.

A Spanish-Chilean research team has found that microbial biofilms in the Atacama Desert can significantly contribute to the soiling of photovoltaic modules, reducing short-circuit current by up to around 30% under accelerated laboratory conditions. The study highlights microorganisms as active agents in PV soiling and suggests they may influence optical losses, cleaning efficiency, and future mitigation strategies in arid, high-irradiance solar regions.

The EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) says distribution grid investment has risen 51% since 2021, but warns that fragmented planning rules and regulatory distortions could limit efficiency and slow the energy transition.

Researchers in Spain developed a porous silica anti-reflective coating for solar panels that boosts optical transmission while balancing durability and mechanical stability through optimized sol–gel chemistry.

Credential compromise attacks allow adversaries to gain unauthorized access to PV systems by stealing or guessing valid login credentials, enabling them to manipulate operations, disrupt monitoring, or take control of critical assets. These attacks can lead to operational instability, reduced energy production, and safety risks, making strong authentication and access control essential for system resilience.

Entering a competitive small-scale energy storate field is Chinese maker Mova, well-known for its kitchen applicances and growing robotic homewares including vacuums and more.

A year-long study in the UK finds vertical bifacial PV systems achieve an up to 26.91% higher output during morning hours compared to traditional tilted PV systems. The vertical bifacial system bettered the tilted system across all four seasons, with average power gains as high as 24.52% during winter.

The German manufacturer said that its new air-to-water heat pump system uses propane as a refrigerant and is available in three variants with outputs of 5 kW, 7 kW, and 11 kW. The new product can reportedly achieve a coefficient of performance of up to 4.93.