Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has been heating up in Germany but increased competition and high interest rates are affecting renewables project values. Baris Serifsoy, partner at GreenCap Partners, examines the investment landscape in one of the world’s most developed PV markets.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, explains that the solar cycle does tend to increase the earth’s average annual extra-terrestrial irradiance, but only by a very small amount. It also explains that, while the annual cycle of extra-terrestrial irradiance causes a steady, predictable and significant 3.5% change through the seasonal cycle, the peak of the 11-year cycle of solar activity causes a smaller, more sporadic and unpredictable set of fluctuations.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Oana Ijdelea, the founder and managing partner of Romanian law firm Ijdelea & Associates. She says there is no objective blockage impeding women from pursuing a career in the renewable sector. There is, however, a vicious circle where women may become reluctant to apply for a position where males appear to be more present, and on the other hand, the lack of female presence in such roles does not encourage other women to step in.

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.

The requirements of measures such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) mean that solar panel prices in the United States can be twice as much as in Europe.

PVRadar Labs has expanded its software platform to include PV project risk assessment functionality, reportedly enabling more realistic performance estimates based on historical climate data.

Qcells says it will use Lumet’s fine-line metallization technology for its solar cells, for higher efficiency and lower production costs.

US-headquartered Apricus Generation says it has acquired a controlling stake in Toronto-based Nexus Renewables – its first strategic acquisition.

Clean Power Hydrogen (CPH2) is launching membraneless electrolyzers with cryogenic systems to separate hydrogen and oxygen. It is producing them in the United Kingdom and is collaborating with other companies for production in Germany and New Zealand. It says it expects 4 GW of combined production capacity by 2030.

Chinese developer Eging PV Technology says it will build a 200 MW solar power station in southwestern Tajikistan. The nation will also construct its first production plant for solar equipment, with investment from South Korea’s Global Solar Wafer.

The novel heat pump concept combines solar energy with chemical storage and reportedly consume 75% less electricity than conventional heat pumps. The system relies on a battery and a heat storage tank that can be used either separately or simultaneously, depending on the outdoor conditions.

The Angolan authorities have inaugurated a 25.3 MW solar park built by Portugal’s MCA and Sun Africa. The project is the fourth of seven installations that are being built for the Angolan government, with a combined capacity of 370 MW.

New research from Denmark shows PV-to-methanol facilities may achieve 30% lower levelized cost of methanol through engagement in reserve markets. The researchers examined the ability of a PV-to-methanol plant to contribute to the grid in frequency containment reserves (FCR), automatic frequency restoration reserves (aFRR), and manual frequency restoration reserves (mFRR).

U.S.-based PVFarm has released a web-based application for large-scale solar PV project planning at the early stage. It includes real-time energy models and building information model (BIM) features, reportedly supporting PV plant electrical, mechanical, civil, energy, and procurement aspects.

Texas is uniquely suited to adopt virtual power plant (VPP) technology due to its competitive, deregulated market. Its success highlights the “perverse incentive” of vertically integrated utilities in other US states to make capital expenditures without discretion to raise profits.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new Hi-MO X6 Scientist series has a temperature coefficient of -0.28%/C and a power output ranging from 620 W to 630 W. They rely on the company’s proprietary hybrid passivated back contact (HPBC) cell technology.

UIS Technologies has commissioned polyurethane (PU) recoating and regrooving solutions for wire guide rollers (WGRs) at Adani’s 2 GW solar ingot-wafer plant in Gujarat, India.

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology have designed an optical filter for the thermal management of IBC photovoltaic modules. The proposed technology can reportedly reduce the cell operating temperature by up to 2.5 C and extend the lifetime of a PV module by up to 2 years.

REC has developed a new series of heterojunction solar panels with efficiencies up to 22.5% and an operating temperature coefficient of -0.24% per degree Celsius.

The German research institute said the new 120 µm thin solar cell could exceed 25% efficiency with the next optimization steps. The device was metalized via screen-printed contact fingers and calibrated by scientists at the Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin.

Scientists in South Africa have proposed a new chalcogenide perovskite solar cell design based on a compound known as barium zirconium sulfide. They tested different hole transport materials in the new device and found that a polymer known as P3HT achieved the best performance.

Scientists in India have proposed using a multilayer neural network to find line-to-ground, line-to-line, and bypass diode faults in PV module strings. They tested the new approach on a 22.5 kW solar array and reportedly achieved “competitive” accuracy results.

Baywa re has commissioned a 54 MW agrivoltaic solar project in Spain. Denmark-based Velux has agreed to purchase most of its 96.8 GWh of annual output under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).

Anywhere Solar says its new trackers have a module area of 75 m2 and can host PV systems up to 19 kW in size. When deployed horizontally, the systems allow vehicles up to 4.3 meters high to pass underneath.

The Japanese electronics manufacturer has launched the NU-JC440 and NU-JC430B panels with efficiencies of 22.53% and 22.02%, respectively. Both products are IEC/EN61215 and IEC/EN61730-certified and rely on M10 wafers.

Nur Bukhara Solar PV LLC FE, a project company owned by Masdar, will deliver a 63 MW battery energy storage system alongside a 250 MW solar plant in south-central Uzbekistan.

Chinese battery manufacturer Svolt has cancelled plans to open a plant in the German state of Brandenburg. Meanwhile, its plans for cell production in Saarland, southwest Germany, continue to be delayed.

Researchers in Italy have found that combining residential air heat pumps with air-geothermal heat exchangers may reduce power consumption by up to 30%. They tested the proposed combination using Matlab in a passive single-family building located in Valtellina, northern Italy.

Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) says in a new report that blue hydrogen might not be an effective climate solution, while TotalEnergies and its partners have agreed to explore green hydrogen potential in Tunisia.

Solarwatt says it will shut down its battery factory in Germany. Battery production at the Dresden facility will halt at the end of this year, and the company will move all battery and solar panel production to China.