Europe

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Margarita Licht, Product Manager BESS & Charging at Germany’s Goldbeck Solar. She says diverse perspectives and cognitive styles are essential in the solar and energy storage sector, enabling smarter solutions, effective problem-solving, and long-term planning. She also emphasizes that creating inclusive environments, fostering allyship, and choosing workplaces that value authentic strengths empower growth and drive meaningful impact.

The German manufacturer said its new back-contact solar panel has a power conversion efficiency of up to 23.52%.

An international reserch team developed two deep learning-based IDS models to enhance cybersecurity in SCADA systems. The hybrid approach reportedly improves detection of complex and novel cyber threats with high accuracy, adaptability, and efficiency, outperforming traditional methods across multiple datasets.

A German research team has developed CuInSe₂ micro-concentrator solar cells using laser-assisted metal-organic chemical vapor deposition to grow indium islands directly on molybdenum-coated glass, forming absorber arrays without masks or patterning. The not-yet-optimized micro-modules achieved up to 0.65% efficiency under one sun, with gains of up to 250% under concentrated illumination.

Hybrid power purchase agreements (PPAs) combining solar and storage are proving harder to close with industrial offtakers than standard solar deals, despite growing market interest.

Switzerland startup Evolium Technologies’ subscription-based business model offers residential battery owners a lifetime guarantee on second life batteries. The startup tests and remotely monitors each battery cell so it can alert customers when a cell is under-performing.

The Dutch research institute has presented what it describes as the world’s first perovskite-based roof tile, achieving up to 13.8% efficiency on standalone modules and 12.4% when installed on a curved surface. The flexible modules were produced using TNO’s experimental roll-to-roll platform,

The French authorities announced they will assign 288 MW of PV in the 2026 tender for projects ranging from 100 kW to 500 kW in size and 925 MW in the procurement exercise for PV systems exceeding 500 kW. The tenders will include cybersecurity requirements as well as provisions to support European manufacturing.

German company Sonnen is set to offer its customers a 22 kWh battery energy storage system (BESS) for the price of an 11 kWh product. The offer will be valid until the end of June 2026.

War in the Middle East is putting pressure on energy markets and boosting the value of solar and storage power purchase agreements (PPAs), with Europe seeing a surge in activity in March, according to Swiss consultancy Pexapark.