Stadium in Austria now hosting Europe’s largest PVT system
Austria has installed Europe’s largest photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) solar system at a stadium, using Sunmaxx modules combined with geothermal energy and brine heat pumps to provide climate-neutral electricity and heat.
Agrivoltaics for cherries
Switzerland’s Energie360° and solar tech specialist Insolight have agreed to build a 1,300-panel agrivoltaic plant on a cherry farm in Leuggern, Switzerland. The facility will combine crop protection and dynamic light management.
France, Spain raise interconnection link capacity from 2.8 GW to 5 GW
France and Spain have driven up the planned capacity of their Bay of Biscay electricity interconnection from 2.8 GW to 5 GW, with €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion) in financing approved by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
At least 18 GW of batteries await Brazil’s planned auction
While Brazil is making progress in customer-side, “behind-the-meter” and off-grid battery solutions – with more than 700 MWh – it still lacks guidelines for a planned gigawatt-scale national auction. Markus Vlasits, president of the Brazilian Association of Energy Storage Solutions (ABSAE), tells pv magazine about the nation’s utility-scale battery bottleneck.
Different dust, different impact on PV module performance
Scientists in Germany have collected dust from Qatar, Morocco and Thailand to analyze the impact on the performance of uncoated solar glass and uncoated PV mini-modules. Their analysis has shown that dust coverage could range from 4% to 60%.
New study confirms sensitivity of heterojunction solar cells to soldering flux
Researchers in South Korea have found that the contamination by small amounts of soldering flux residues during heterojunction PV module manufacturing can induce significant long-term performance degradation. Careful control of flux application methods and incorporating drying steps are proposed as potential solutions.
Despite low gas prices, solar, wind remain cheapest sources of power in US
Renewables remain cost-competitive in the United States despite rising natural gas competitiveness, according to Lazard’s 2025 “Levelized Cost of Energy+” report, which estimates combined cycle gas at $0.048/kWh to $0.107/kWh, solar at $0.038/kWh to $0.212/kWh, and nuclear at $0.141/kWh to $0.220/kWh.
UAE integrates solar into district cooling plants
An inauguration ceremony has taken place for the installation of solar panels at two district cooling plants in Abu Dhabi belonging to the UAE’s Ministry of Defence.
Brunei to host 30 MW solar plant
A joint venture partly owned by a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Solarvest will build Brunei’s first utility-scale solar plant under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Brunei government.
Romania updates grid connection rules
Romania’s energy regulator ANRE has adopted new grid connection rules, introducing changes to the solution study process, financial guarantee requirements, and connection agreement terms to prioritize mature projects and ease grid congestion.
