World

Researchers in Brazil tested second-life polycrystalline PV modules for two years and found they retained 87–88% of their original power, with minimal degradation and stable performance. Despite strong sustainability and circular economy benefits, economic incentives remain limited due to the declining cost and short warranties of new state-of-the-art silicon PV modules.

Researchers in Turkey optimized electrospray cooling for PV panels, achieving optimal power output with minimal water use and a compact, energy-efficient setup. Their study identified irradiance, flow rate, voltage, and nozzle distance as ideal parameters.

Achieving a system cost of $0.65/W through the secondary market and do-it-yourself assembly demonstrates a viable pathway for US plug-in solar to provide immediate utility bill relief to renters and apartment dwellers.

SOSV-backed Qnetic is aiming to raise $20 million in 2026. Over the next two years it will work with the National Lab of the Rockies and other partners on field testing and validating its technology across multiple use cases.

Global solar PV continues its rapid growth, reaching around 650 GW in 2025, with record solar irradiation extremes across regions such as East Asia, India, and Latin America. With current production capacity and emerging technologies like perovskite-silicon tandem modules, PV is poised to surpass all other electricity generation technologies combined by the end of the decade.

The next generation of green ammonia facilities must not only operate safely and efficiently, but must demonstrate to the world that large-scale green molecules can be produced, stored, transported, and traded with the same confidence as their fossil counterparts. The organisations that rise to this challenge will not simply contribute to the energy transition — they will define the architecture of a decarbonised industrial future.

Tongwei is partnering with GS-Solar and Golden Solar to develop a large-scale manufacturing facility for hybrid heterojunction back-contact (HBC) solar cells that combine heterojunction passivation, tunneling oxide and polysilicon structures used in TOPCon designs, and the grid-free front-side architecture typical of back-contact technologies.

Greener says Brazil imported 17.9 GWp of PV modules in 2025, with distributed generation accounting for 79% of volumes despite a slowdown in installations.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has opened a Section 337 investigation into tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells, modules, panels, and related products following a complaint by First Solar, naming 47 entities across 11 countries as respondents.

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.