Soaring energy costs have grabbed headlines around the world the past two months, but prices across the solar supply chain are marching to their own beat, writes Hanwei Wu of OPIS. Oversupply in Asia continues to distort markets, with either sharp price falls or tepid price gains.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Marián Giner, Head of Engineering at Sweden’s Alight. She speaks about systemic barriers, impostor syndrome, and lessons from sport and mentorship to redefine leadership as collaborative, transparent, and team-focused.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that April 2026 was one of Australia’s driest Aprils in recent years, with widespread rainfall deficits driven by persistent high pressure and ENSO returning to neutral, leading to mostly clear skies and above-normal solar irradiance across much of the continent. New South Wales and Victoria saw the strongest sunshine surpluses, while remnants of ex-Tropical Cyclone Maila brought cloud and rain to the north, creating regional contrasts in rainfall and solar conditions.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

An engineer and home-energy enthusiast installs the Anker Solix E10 on a fire-prone California hillside, and documents the entire process in a deep dive review for ESS News

Cuba has introduced a new tariff of CUP 90 ($3.75)/kWh for surplus renewable electricity exported to the national grid, replacing a lower differentiated pricing system for residential and non-residential producers.

The European Commission has awarded €400 million ($465.7 million) to 65 industrial heat decarbonization projects across 10 European countries in its first Innovation Fund heat auction, targeting electrification and renewable heat technologies in energy-intensive industries.

San Marino’s public utility is inviting investors to sell solar assets or development-stage companies under a new program aimed at increasing domestic renewable generation and long-term energy security.

French advisory firm Finergreen has sold its African operations to local management teams and will refocus its strategy on Europe and Asia, where it says its main growth opportunities lie.

Research from the UK finds aerosols reduced global solar output by 5.8% in 2023, equivalent to 111 TWh. While China accounted for over half the global total in 2023, the country is the only major solar-producing region found to be demonstrating a decline in annual losses.

SolarPower Europe estimates that EU solar generation is significantly underreported, with actual PV output projected at 410 TWh in 2025 versus 275 TWh in official statistics. The group attributes the gap to incomplete rooftop PV registration, data transfer delays, and the difficulty of measuring self-consumed solar electricity.

The new pan-European digital platform is designed to enhance transparency and improve access to information on the hosting capacity of European electricity grids, including both transmission and distribution networks.

Regulators in 27 U.S. states are shifting residential electricity pricing toward higher fixed monthly charges and lower usage-based rates, weakening the economics of rooftop solar and home battery systems. This redesign reduces incentives for distributed energy, compresses savings from peak-rate arbitrage, and reinforces reliance on costly centralized grid expansion, potentially raising long-term electricity costs for consumers.

Director of the Slovak Association of Sustainable Energy, Ján Karaba, told pv magazine solar is expected to become one of the key technologies used within future energy communities in Slovakia but said regulatory improvements will be essential to unlock the full potential of decentralized solar energy.

Gasunie has launched a 32-km hydrogen pipeline in the Port of Rotterdam linking Maasvlakte and Pernis, marking the first operational section of the Dutch hydrogen backbone and enabling future expansion toward national and cross-border hydrogen networks.

Researchers from UNSW and DAS Solar developed a zero-busbar metal grid optimization approach for tunnel oxide passivated back-contact (TBC) silicon solar cells, enabling more efficient current collection at the rear surface while reducing silver consumption by 3–4 mg/W. The first TBC cells produced in mass manufacturing using this technique have demonstrated efficiencies exceeding 27%.

Researchers have developed a low-temperature, hydrogen peroxide-mediated oxidative liquefaction process to recycle end-of-life solar panels by selectively breaking down polymers into useful chemical feedstocks. The proposed method reduces energy consumption, eliminates hazardous solvents, and minimizes landfill waste compared to traditional recycling techniques.

The ultra-thin TOPCon solar cell uses dual-sided polysilicon passivated contacts formed by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. The champion device, with a thickness of only 80 μm, achieved 19.7% efficiency with 719 mV open-circuit voltage and demonstrated strong passivation, optical performance, and mechanical flexibility.

A study from Türkiye has introduced the Agrivoltaic Innovation Index (AII), a composite scientometric tool designed to assess innovation readiness in agrivoltaics beyond traditional publication and citation metrics. The index evaluates research across four dimensions – conceptual, translational, network, and societal – and shows that high publication volume does not necessarily correspond to higher innovation readiness.

The Chinese manufacturer said the system is designed for easy AC-coupled integration with existing PV systems and scalable expansion up to 7.5 kW three-phase output. The system purportedly delivers 800 W–2.5 kW AC output, supports up to 5.76 kW PV input with 96.5% efficiency.

JinkoSolar has won a key patent invalidation in China against First Solar’s TOPCon-related patent, with the China National Intellectual Property Administration ruling it fully invalid.

Polysilicon prices stayed flat in China as production and demand moved closer into balance, easing recent supply–demand pressures.

The Plug and Play Solar Act, which passed on a 35-1 vote, would allow portable solar generation devices with up to 1,200 W of output to connect to a building through a standard outlet. The bill now moves to the state Assembly, which has until August 31 to pass it during the current session.

Stray voltage is unwanted electrical potential differences in barns that can cause small shocks to livestock, especially dairy cows, through damp floors, metal equipment, and water systems, leading to stress and reduced productivity, and in some cases even to death. While PV systems are sometimes blamed, experts told pv magazine that the real causes are faulty or poorly designed grounding and electrical infrastructure, and that proper equipotential bonding is key to prevention. With attentive design, these risks to animal health can be avoided.

As Europe’s first generations of integrated PV systems age, researchers and industry actors are only beginning to explore the long-term realities of maintenance, compatibility and repair.

The Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions gathered executives to debate applications that could solve systemic challenges facing the Brazilian electricity sector. The issue, they argue, goes beyond a “BESS vs. thermal or renewables vs. energy security” debate, but involves finding the best combination of security, price, ‘renewability’, and flexibility.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is backing a five-country merchant battery storage push by Slovenian developer NGEN Energetske Rešitve with a €70 million ($81.3 million) loan supported by an EU first-loss guarantee, in one of the first multi-country merchant BESS portfolios in central Europe.

The measure raises the import tariff from 18% to 25% for 48V LFP batteries intended for stationary applications in telecommunications and photovoltaic systems of up to 4.8 kW until May 2027, following a request from the domestic industry via LETEC. For other batteries classified as lithium-ion electric accumulators, the reduced rate of 18% remains.

The scheme targets projects of 0.7 MW and above, with a 935 MW indicative storage need, and is part of broader reforms to streamline investment while strengthening state-led planning of the electricity sector.

Australia’s New South Wales is rolling out two of the biggest renewable energy tenders in the state’s history, seeking 2.5 GW of new generation capacity in addition to 12.5 GWh of long-duration energy storage.