Solar and wind are being installed at a rate that is five times faster than all other new electricity sources combined. This offers compelling market-based evidence that PV and wind are now the most competitive and practical methods for deploying new generating capacity.

Markus Hoehner and Rajan Kalsotra, CEO and Senior Consultant at the Bonn-based EUPD Research, discuss the growth trajectory, challenges and opportunities within the EU solar PV market, focusing on policy support, pricing trends, module shipments and future projections.

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.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) reflects on the need for tangible DEI practices and inclusive leaders who understand the meaning of equity and diversity to create inclusive environments that acknowledge individual needs and systemic barriers. Addressing these aspects is critical to fuel innovation, creativity, and resilience to overcome the challenges of our sectors in the energy transition.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that the US Midwest enjoyed exceptional conditions with irradiance up to 10% above normal across the year, while areas along the Gulf Coast and much of the West Coast experienced slightly below-average sunshine.

China’s REPT Battero has revealed plans to build a lithium-ion battery plant in Indonesia, targeting 8 GWh of annual production capacity in the first phase.

Bord Gáis Energy has acquired Irish solar installer Swyft Energy to expand its reach in Ireland’s residential, commercial, and agricultural PV markets.

Collective self-consumption in France has more than doubled since 2023, reaching nearly 700 operations with approximately 8,500 participants throughout the country.

Researchers have constructed a miniature PV field at an altitude of 2,500 m in Switzerland. They tested it across 80 different positioning settings and compared the results to the guidelines provided by the Swiss government for a subsidy program. They found that the simulated yield was underestimated by up to 16%.

South Korea installed 2.5 GW of new solar capacity in 2024, bringing its cumulative PV capacity to more than 29.5 GW, according to the Korean Energy Agency.

Australia’s rooftop solar market finished 2024 on a high, with about 309 MW of monthly installations delivering one of the best December totals in recent years and putting the national trend back on the up.

Swiss-based Hive Power has launched Flexo to optimize grid-connected devices, enabling flexibility in markets with dynamic tariffs. The Flexo solution has interfaces to integrate inverters, home energy management systems, charging point managements systems, meters, and other internet of things (IoT) devices.

Laser Tools Co. updated its laser-guided toolkits for ground-mounted solar installations.

Sungrow says its new SG150CX inverter, launched this week at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, achieves 98.8% efficiency and 98.2% European efficiency. It is designed for commercial and industrial (C&I) applications.

Masdar and Emirates Water and Electricity Co. (EWEC) plan to build a $6 billion, 5 GW/19 GWh solar-plus-storage project in Abu Dhabi, with operations set to start by 2027.

Researchers in China have investigated the impact of phosphorus diffusion gettering on industrial silicon heterojunction solar cell and have found that, with an optimized gas flow, higher efficiencies can be achieved.

A new Stanford University study finds that there are several several key routes that sodium-ion battery developers can take to compete on price, specifically against a low-cost variant of the lithium-ion battery known as lithium iron phosphate (LFP).

GoodWe says its ES Uniq Series hybrid inverters suit on-grid and off-grid applications, offering a maximum efficiency of 97.6% and a European efficiency of 96.2%.

Huasun has launched its 720 W Kunlun G12 dual-glass bifacial solar panels for vertical PV projects at the World Future Economic Summit in Abu Dhabi. The panels feature a 23.2% power conversion efficiency and enhanced mechanical stress resistance with a steel alloy frame.

Mellow Energy claims its ML-Flex panel is currently the world’s largest flexible perovskite solar module. Available in five versions with power output ranging from 260 W to 300 W, the module measures 1,200 mm x 1,600 mm and weighs only 2.04 kg.

Researchers from the UAE and Singapore have assessed how wind-induced vibrations increase mechanical stress in PV panels and have found these vibrations could lead to microcracks, more serious mechanical failures, misalignments, and ultimately to the system collapse.

The nanocellulose film can be used for light management as its light scattering is adjustable. It also exhibits a transmittance of over 80% at 550 nm.

Solar panel supply is no issue, but other installation bottlenecks have emerged, said a report from Clean Energy Associates.

The Chinese government says it will review 2014 anti-dumping duties on US and South Korean polysilicon imports, and will maintain them during its investigation, which was requested by 13 Chinese manufacturers.

A Chinese research group has created a new radiative cooling technology for photovoltaic devices. It consists of a chamber made of ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene and polydimethylsiloxane that, when placed above the solar cells, can reportedly achieve an average cooling power of approximately 40 W/m2.

A new report says sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), made from abundant materials, could help India to reduce its dependence on imports to meet its energy storage needs.

After tumbling to record low in 2024 on the back of lower metal costs and increased scale, lithium-ion battery prices are expected to enter a period of stabilization.

Carrier, a US-based heating solutions provider, has introduced a new 4-14 kW line of heat pumps with a coefficient of performance of up to 4.90. The system use propane as the refrigerant and can reportedly reach leaving water temperature of 75 C.

Microvast says its new True all-solid-state battery (ASSB) eliminates liquid electrolytes to achieve voltages of 12 V to 21 V, with a bipolar stacking design that cuts interconnections between cells, modules, and packs.

A 300 MW compressed air energy storage (CAES) power station utilizing two underground salt caverns in central China’s Hubei Province was successfully connected to the grid at full capacity, making it the largest operating project of the kind in the world.