Fault lines – 11-2025

pv magazine España’s Pilar Sanchez Molina examined the causes of the Iberian blackout in April, following a detailed investigation by European transmission grid association ENTSO-E. The final report into the incident is due in early 2026. But Spain has already begun introducing new regulations and backing battery deployments to ensure such a disaster can never be repeated.

Deploying more energy storage should be a high priority, not just in Spain and Portugal, but globally in order to balance electricity grids. Writing in this month’s edition, Luis Marquina, president of Spanish battery storage association Aepibal, argues that Spain’s target of 12 GW of battery storage by 2030 is achievable with the right framework in place.

It’s not only grids that need urgent attention from Europe’s policymakers. This edition also explores obstacles facing the few active European manufacturers as well as what’s needed on a policy level to set the industry on its feet to take advantage of its make-or-break moment.

While Europe deals with its affairs, China is addressing overcapacity in its PV supply chain. OPIS analyst Hanwei Wu has the latest data on the modest price increases in recent months, which he attributes to market sentiment arising simply from the expectation alone that the overcapacity problem will finally be tackled.

And elsewhere in the world, renewable energy entrepreneur and Obama Scholar, Glory Oguegbu, spoke to Carrie Hampel about her work building local renewable energy capacity for underserved communities in Nigeria. “People are infrastructure,” she said, explaining how foreign developers wanting to break into Africa’s lucrative sector can encourage community acceptance by facilitating open discussions, hiring locals, and working with communities to ensure they see tangible benefits from projects  in their neighborhoods.

Other topics in this issue:

• Vertical integration strategies: InfoLink shares insights into vertical integration strategies in the PV supply chain.
• Sodium not yet a li-ion tamer: A new generation of sodium-ion battery cells has been launched.
• High time for voltage standard: 2,000 V systems can save material costs, but are inhibited in Europe.
• A palette of lightweight modules: Ever-increasing lightweight options for load-challenged rooftops.
• Let’s go outside: Outdoor testing of perovskites over time indicates climate zones make a difference.