Articles written by pv magazine

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Brandschutz für Photovoltaik-Anlagen nahe Wäldern
How to protect solar assets from wildfires The number of forest fires across Europe is rising. Countries in Central and Northern Europe are also increasingly affected. This article presents a range of preventive measures to protect photovoltaic systems from fire and reports on experiences in France.
Felix Hübner
Aug 21, 2026
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China TOPCon cell prices jump on firmer upstream sentiment and rising export demand 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.
OPIS
Aug 21, 2026
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The summer solar carried the water Europe’s hydro fleet produced less power in the summer of 2026 than it did in the drought summer of 2022, and reservoir stocks finished the period 7.7% below their eleven-year median with France under its historical floor. Over those same four years solar generation across the affected systems rose by 39 TWh. That surplus is now visibly reorganizing the rest of the fleet: reservoir hydro has withdrawn from the middle of the day, and pumped storage has moved its charging window from the pre-dawn hours into the middle of the day, with the peak charging hour shifting from around 04:00 to between 13:00 and 14:00, and the correlation between hourly solar output and hourly pumping rising from zero to 0.86 in six summers.
WSP
Aug 20, 2026
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PV life cycle assessment gets its most comprehensive data overhaul in more than a decade IEA PVPS Task 12 has released a major update to the life cycle inventory data underpinning photovoltaic life cycle assessments, covering modern TOPCon and PERC silicon supply chains, CdTe modules, inverters, mounting systems, and updated reference installations. Based on 83 factory-level datasets and new simulation-based inventories, the report establishes a more comprehensive and current baseline for PV LCA, sustainability reporting, procurement, and environmental assessments.
IEA-PVPS
Aug 20, 2026
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As Europe overheats, solar module prices cool down Europe’s record heat is driving up electricity demand while renewable energy deployment remains constrained by policy uncertainty. Solar module prices are broadly stable, with oversupply putting pressure on prices even as installers’ order books remain strong.
Martin Schachinger, pvXchange.com
Aug 18, 2026
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Energy storage cell shipment data for H1 2026 reveal three structural shifts In the first half of 2026, global energy storage cell shipments reached 467.84 GWh, up 94.8% year on year, just one data point from InfoLink Consulting, which examines each of these shifts in turn.
Corrine Lin
Aug 17, 2026
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When heat becomes a stress test: What extreme temperatures mean for photovoltaic systems and battery storage Photovoltaics rely on sunlight. Battery storage systems rely on absorbing and releasing energy precisely when the power grid needs it. Both sound like an ideal combination for hot summer days: plenty of sunshine, high generation, increased electricity demand due to cooling, and greater grid flexibility. In practice, it’s more complex.
Andreas Kern and Philippe Staudinger from Meteocontrol
Aug 14, 2026
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What makes women join, stay and progress in Solar+? This week, Women in Solar+ Europe (WiSEu) announces its first contribution to SolarPower Europe’s Solar Jobs Report 2026. The article will explore women’s representation across the Solar+ industries and the factors influencing their attraction, retention and career progression. But to tell that story, WiSEu needs data, and this is where your voice is needed.
Women in Solar+ Europe
Aug 14, 2026
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Partial U.S. eclipse produced similar daily solar energy losses to higher-obscuration European locations In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that the Aug. 12 solar eclipse caused highly variable irradiance losses across Europe and North America, shaped by obscuration, cloud cover, and the timing of the eclipse. However, eclipse-related power-market impacts varied much more, showing that irradiance loss or obscuration alone is not a reliable predictor of electricity-price effects.
Solcast
Aug 14, 2026