Australia has become one of the world’s most attractive destinations for hyperscale data centers, ranking among the top five to 10 markets globally by capacity. Drivers include large land availability in Renewable Energy Zones, renewable penetration exceeding 40% across the National Electricity Market (NEM), geopolitical stability, Five Eyes membership, and proximity to Asia-Pacific demand hubs.

Utility-scale solar projects are larger, interconnections are slower, and engineering decisions must anticipate regulation and supply chains years in advance. At the CT Solar Platform in Snyder, Texas – a 1.6 GW AC single-site development – the first phase, CT Solar One (110 MW AC), has served as a test bed for integrating civil design, BOS optimization and domestic-content strategy. Levona Renewables led the development and engineering of the project, and CEO Fernando Queiroz shares key lessons.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Sabina Blitek, General Counsel at Netherlands’ R.Power Renewables. She says women in male-dominated industries, like energy and finance, can overcome bias by consistently demonstrating competence, believing in their own potential, and leading by example.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that February saw a sharp divide in Europe’s solar conditions. Northeastern regions experienced clear, cold weather with irradiance 20% above average, while western and southern Europe endured persistent storms and widespread irradiance deficits.

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.

India added 119 GW of solar module capacity and over 9 GW of cell capacity in 2025, bringing total capacities to about 210 GW and 27 GW, respectively, according to Mercom India. Growth was driven by strong project demand and policy support, although supply-demand alignment is expected later in 2026 as domestic cell production ramps up.

Analysis from GlobalData finds the UAE’s cumulative solar capacity increased from 5.7 GW to around 6.7 GW last year. The country’s annual solar deployments are forecast to increase in the coming years, with 20 GW of installed solar expected by the end of the decade.

Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) says its new design and construction guidelines for flexible PV and perovskite solar installations will help ensure the safety and reliability of systems deployed on low-load rooftops and wall surfaces where conventional panels cannot be installed.

A 620 MW solar project to be constructed in South Africa’s Free State has reached financial close. The milestone follows the signing of a more than 20-year multi-offtaker wheeling agreement with commercial and industrial clients. 

China’s 2026 to 2030 policy plan elevates clean electricity as a central driver of economic growth, with greater emphasis on system integration and industrial use.

The European Union’s NIS2 Directive is pushing PV operators to strengthen both cyber and physical security, treating solar assets as critical infrastructure. It also highlights the need for stronger physical protection measures, such as site surveillance, access control, and perimeter security to prevent tampering and intrusion.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new Nex E6000 and Nex E6000H storage systems combine a 6 kWh battery, an inverter, and an integrated energy management system, with scalable design allowing multiple units to be networked for higher capacity and coordinated energy sharing.

Lithuania-based Refra has launched its Oasis series of water-to-water heat pumps and chillers, offering capacities from 34 kW to 600 kW for small to large commercial and industrial applications. Featuring propane refrigerant, inverter-controlled compressors, and modular multi-circuit design, the units can reach a coefficient of performance of up to 5.1.

Roth Capital Partners says it expects a sharp drop in US residential solar installations as tax credit changes and Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules constrain financing.

Swiss analytics firm Pexapark finds February saw the highest monthly volume of new European power purchase agreements (PPAs) since February 2024, including the longest PPA observed in the European market to date.

DAS Solar and Hebei University have identified two types of pinholes in TOPCon solar cells: harmful recombinational pinholes, which lack oxygen and cause carrier recombination, and beneficial passivating pinholes, which retain oxygen to enable efficient tunneling while maintaining interface passivation. Their work shows that optimizing oxide layer formation, back-surface polishing, and polycrystalline silicon deposition can increase passivating pinholes, boosting device efficiency and guiding industrial cell design.

The K2 MultiRail High mounting system is a one-piece elevated solution with a height of 100 mm tailored to improve rear ventilation on metal roofs. K2 Systems says greater distance between modules and metal roof surface improves airflow and lowers module temperature, which can translate to higher annual energy yield.

The Korean manufacturer has expanded its Therma V R290 heat pump line with three indoor unit options to improve installation flexibility. The new products are designed to deliver heating performance at ambient temperatures as low as -28 C and domestic hot water output of up to 75 C.

Marstek has unveiled a plug-in storage system with a two-kilowatt-hour capacity. The device plugs into a standard household socket and is designed to store solar power from balcony systems or draw in cheap electricity from dynamic pricing tariffs.

The new series features single- and three-phase systems with scalable LFP battery integration. Designed for rapid whole-house backup and VPP applications, the new product delivers up to 89.6 % round-trip efficiency, according to the manufacturer.

RenewSys India has opened a 3 GW automated solar module facility in the Indian state of Maharashtra, expanding total module capacity to 5.6 GW.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new rooftop solar module offers 455–475 W power, 22.8–23.8% efficiency, 96-cell double-glass design, and IP68 protection.

In 2025, back-contact solar modules from Aiko Solar and Longi accounted for more than 50% of the Swiss market, driven by strong demand for high-efficiency rooftop PV systems, according to a new report by Eturnity and the Bern University of Applied Sciences.

TNO has launched Perovion Technologies to industrialize lightweight, flexible perovskite solar cells, targeting niche applications where conventional panels are unsuitable. The company plans to build the first roll-to-roll perovskite solar cell manufacturing facility in the Netherlands by 2030.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new Star Shine I system is already available in Europe and can operate at speeds of 10–18 m/min, performing cleaning routes of up to 3 km round trip and 9 km in a single direction.

Icelandic utility ON Power has deployed a hybrid solar-plus-storage facility in Reykjavík to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The company says it believes such distributed systems will play a growing role in charging infrastructure in the future, even in Iceland’s renewables-dominated power system.

Atmoce has launched a backup box in Germany that adds three-phase emergency power to existing PV systems and works with the company’s M-ELV battery.

Newly-implemented rules governing Ukraine’s energy market introduce solar-plus-storage systems as a separate auction category, ease regulatory barriers governing standalone storage projects and establish processes for renewable energy facilities located in Ukraine’s occupied territories.

An international research team developed CyberSentry, a software framework using advanced deep learning and optimization techniques to enhance cybersecurity in SCADA systems for power plants and critical infrastructure. It combines feature selection, hybrid anomaly detection, and dynamic parameter tuning to detect diverse cyberattacks with 99.5% accuracy while minimizing false alarms.

US-based Pii Energy has launched a plug-in solar-plus-storage kit designed for renters and apartment residents, priced at about USD 2,400.