Affordability, project pipelines secured through safe harbor provisions, and expanding domestic manufacturing capacity are supporting US solar deployment despite policy and trade uncertainty.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Yolanda Hoyos, Chief Technical Officer at Spain’s Blacksalt. She says that inclusion, mentorship, and authentic leadership unlock talent, dismantle bias, and are critical to shaping the future of the energy transition. “When organizations respect individual circumstances, commitment and growth follow naturally,” she states.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that January 2026 began with relatively mild, solar-favorable conditions across much of the eastern U.S., but ended with Winter Storm Fern, as a polar vortex disruption triggered widespread cold, clouds, and sharply reduced solar generation. A rare S4-level solar radiation storm was also recorded in mid-January, though it had no direct impact on photovoltaic performance or solar data quality.

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.

Norbut Solar Farms shifted from traditional US real estate development toward long-term land stewardship, generating renewable energy alongside crops and livestock.

The ETS2 Frontloading Facility will provide €3 billion ($3.5 billion) to sectors set to be covered by the EU’s new emissions trading system. It will support low- and middle-income households with the deployment of heat pumps and electric vehicles.

New South Wales has awarded long-term energy service agreements to six battery energy storage projects totaling 1.17 GW and nearly 12 GWh, lifting the state’s contracted storage capacity to 30 GWh.

The factory is located in Oman’s Sohar Freezone and will be capable of supporting the production of up to 40 GW of solar modules annually once at full capacity.

Wood Mackenzie ranked NextPower as the world’s top PV tracker manufacturer in the first half of 2025, with companies headquartered in the United States, China and Spain occupying all top 10 positions.

Vema Hydrogen has completed two pilot hydrogen wells in Quebec, Canada, while Advait Greenergy and InSolare Energy are moving forward on hydrogen projects spanning exploration, electrolyzers, research, and integrated production.

The country’s cumulative installed PV capacity reached 43.5 GW at the end of December, according to the latest figures released by Italian grid operator Terna.

The Global Solar Council’s Africa market outlook report says the continent saw its fastest year for solar growth to date in 2025. Its medium-term outlook forecasts Africa to install over 31.5 GW of solar by 2029, with distributed and utility-scale markets set to continue their expansion across an increasing number of countries.

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity published a report on instability detection technologies to help countries with high renewable energy shares maintain grid reliability. The study highlights key tools, research priorities, and the need for stakeholder collaboration to advance real-time monitoring and data-driven decision-making.

An international study finds that successful agrivoltaic projects require farm-specific, holistic co-design that integrates PV layout with agricultural mechanization from the earliest planning stages. Without proper alignment between machinery, crops, and PV systems, agrivoltaics risk major land loss, lower field efficiency, and higher operating costs, undermining farm profitability.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has awarded 1.2 GW of renewables-plus-storage capacity, covering 4.8 GWh of daily peak supply, at a lowest tariff of INR 6.27 ($0.069)/kWh.

Researchers in the Netherlands developed a model to identify tolerable degradation rates of the top cell in perovskite-silicon tandem modules. Simulations showed that an increase in tandem module efficiency from 28.0% to 32.9% could raise the tolerable degradation rate by approximately 50%.

Copec, Luxmeter Energy, and Ventisqueros have commissioned a system at the Quintupeu salmon farming center in Hornopirén, a remote area of southern Chile. The installation features a 48 kW photovoltaic plant paired with a 109 kWh battery storage system, enabling the facility to reduce its reliance on diesel generators in this off-grid aquaculture operation.

The multi-project cluster includes the world’s largest single-site electrochemical energy storage facility: the 4 GWh Envision Jingyi Chagan Hada Energy Storage Power Station.

Swiss startup Sun-Ways is testing removable solar panels installed on an operational railway line through a pilot project with French railway operator SNCF in Switzerland.

Xilia Group has introduced composite frames for solar modules made from glass fiber–reinforced polyurethane. The company says the frames reduce weight, resist corrosion, and eliminate the need for grounding.

IRENA’s latest report finds that energy use and material intensity across the solar PV manufacturing supply chain will decline through 2030. The analysis also shows Vietnam remains more cost-competitive than India due to lower electricity prices, while high energy and labour costs keep Australia and Germany less competitive.

The company’s new ASTRO N7 Pro PV modules achieve 2% higher cumulative energy yield over the project lifecycle compared to conventional previous-generation modules, according to Astronergy Head of Global Product Management Baohua He.

German inverter and battery manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG has unveiled a modular lithium iron phosphate battery system for commercial and industrial applications, with capacities ranging from 89 kWh to 197 kWh and integrated cybersecurity features.

Tariff reductions under the new U.S.-India trade agreement lower import costs for solar modules and energy storage components. Reciprocal tariffs were effectively reduced from 50% to 18%.

The Chinese PV equipment provider said the result was certified by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH). The cell was fabricated with Maxwell’s in-house heterojunction production-line equipment and an end-to-end process flow.

The 120.8 MW project, built by Lithuanian renewables developer Green Genius, is the largest single-site project in the Baltics. Work is currently underway on constructing a 50 MW/100 MWh battery energy storage system on-site.

Sungrow says it plans to invest €230 million ($274 million) in its first European factory in Wałbrzych, Poland, to produce inverters and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Rystad Energy says it expects global battery energy storage system (BESS) additions to exceed 130 GW/350 GWh in 2026, led by China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany.

German researchers have developed a sodium-ion battery technology using lignin-based hard carbon as the negative electrode. The 1 Ah battery cell prototype showed no significant degradation after 100 charging and discharging cycles.

The government of the Philippines has announced a series of reforms to its net-metering scheme, including faster permitting, the introduction of multi-site and aggregate net-metering, as well as allowing qualified end users to retain ownership of Renewable Energy Certificates for trade on the Renewable Energy Market.