Author
Michael Fuhs
Michael heads the pv magazine editorial department. He’s been writing about solar since 2008, and helped build the German platform under his role as editor in chief. Previously, he worked for radio, television and national newspaper titles, and completed a doctorate in physics.
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Articles written by Michael Fuhs
Energy Start-up Map: From project development and battery hardware to battery diagnostics and flexibility marketing
As part of our “Start-up of the Month” series—published by pv magazine in collaboration with Vireo Ventures—we invited start-ups to submit information about their companies. Ninety-one responded. We have categorized them and provide an overview of their fields of activity, target audiences, and business models in a market overview.
Jun 22, 2026
The smarter E Europe responds with special exhibition to policy headwinds, energy security debate
The special exhibition “Renewables 24/7” addresses one of the most challenging questions of the energy transition: What happens when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing? Through 25 real-world examples and a transformation study commissioned from Fraunhofer ISE, the organizers—together with industry associations and partners—aim to demonstrate how a renewable energy system can nonetheless operate around the clock. The special exhibition opens next Tuesday at The smarter E Europe in Munich.
Solar backup power supports Ukrainian intensive care units during grid outages and cyberattacks
At the Solarpower Summit in Brussels, two Ukrainian representatives highlighted the role photovoltaics and battery storage can play in the country, as well as the lessons the European Union can draw from Ukraine’s experience of living through war. Particular emphasis was placed on systems installed at hospitals and schools.
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When battery imbalance turns 11% of capacity into stranded energy
A 350 MWh battery storage system in Europe is delivering significantly less energy than expected due to cell imbalance, with the battery management system failing to detect the issue, tradable energy volumes chronically overestimated, and weekly balancing cost exposure reaching up to €110,000 ($127,745). This is one of the real-world failure scenarios to be examined at the Battery Business & Development Forum on April 1.
German startup offers team of 22 specialized AI workers for PV plant O&M operations
Invertix has launched 22 specialized AI “workers” to automate O&M tasks for renewable energy assets, targeting inefficiencies in data handling, alarm management, and reporting. The startup says its system enables PV plant operators to scale portfolios more efficiently by reducing manual workloads, while keeping humans in the loop for critical decisions.
Why AI matters for scaling perovskite solar modules
pv magazine spoke with Fan Bin, founder of GCL Optoelectronics, about how high-throughput experimentation and AI-driven optimization are accelerating perovskite development, and why stability, and not efficiency, remains the key challenge on the path to mass production
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Three emerging structures for solar-plus-storage PPAs
The PPA price for pure photovoltaic projects has fallen by 20% over the past year, making such contracts less competitive. However, clear structures for bankable hybrid PPAs are now beginning to take shape, says Pieter van der Meulen, Senior Account Manager at LevelTen Energy, in an interview with pv magazine.
Key takeaways from RE-Source 2025: Complexity grows in PPA market
After a record year, the European power purchase agreement (PPA) market has declined sharply. At an industry gathering this week in Amsterdam, participants highlighted rising PPA complexity and potential solutions, including how to handle negative prices in solar PPAs and the move toward hybrid PPAs with battery storage.
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