Western Europe

The consortium expects to reach Final Investment Decision (FID) on the full-scale project in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone in the coming months, while Brazil’s Federal Court provisionally ordered the suspension of construction activities of Solatio’s project in the State of Piauí.

UNSW researchers found that some POE encapsulants can trigger severe corrosion in TOPCon solar modules, causing up to 55% power loss under damp-heat conditions. Their study highlights that module reliability depends on the exact encapsulant formulation, not just the polymer type.

Axinar has launched SolBox, a direct PV water heating system that powers electric resistance accumulators without thermal collectors. It’s designed for homes and businesses, offering real-time monitoring, MPPT optimization, and automatic grid backup.

Scientists have analyzed the competition between photovoltaics and agriculture for land use in Spain by studying 134 different crops in 15 regions. Using a real options framework, they found that falling solar PV costs and high irradiance in southern Spain could make solar more profitable than farming by the mid-2040s, highlighting growing land-use competition.

Basquevolt and Bcare have successfully developed and integrated the first solid-state cells into a module for stationary applications, accomplishing this within the Iberdrola-led ASTRA-CC project (2023–2025).

The Italian company said the manganese-hydrogen battery it has developed represents an advanced solution for long-duration energy storage. The technology enables energy to be stored for many hours or even days, overcoming the structural limitations of lithium-ion batteries.

An international research team has developed a new two-dimensional perovskite interlayer based on a co-crystal engineering strategy for more robust perovskite films. It demonstrated improved performance in small area perovskite solar cells and, in a 48 cm2 module, contributed to retain 95% of initial efficiency after 5,000 h.

The SLDBatt project brings together TRL 7 battery technologies – including molten sodium‑salt, saltwater acid–base flow, and hydrogen–iron flow batteries – to deliver an innovative and cost-effective long-duration energy storage solution.

French company Dal’Alu has developed a high-capacity aluminum gutter designed to efficiently collect and channel rainwater from large roofs and solar panels. Its on-site profiling, modular components, and durable construction reportedly ensure rapid installation, long-term performance, and compliance with current building standards.

At a major battery project, RTE and Neoen are trialing an inverter retrofit, marking a first for grid-forming services on France’s transmission network.