World

With the increasing pressure to decarbonise the energy system while preserving arable land and biodiversity, agrivoltaics is quickly becoming a vital pathway towards sustainable development. A new report from the IEA PVPS Task 13 lays out a compelling vision for how solar energy and agriculture can not only coexist but thrive together.

Work is underway on a 1.1 GW solar project with 100 MW/200 MWh of accompanying battery energy storage in Egypt. The first phase of the project is scheduled for commercial operation during the first half of next year.

Longi has developed the Hi-MO S10, a residential heterojunction (HJT) back-contact solar module with 25% efficiency, combining 27.6%-efficient cells with up to 510 W output and 252.3 W/m² power density.

Experts set to speak at the NetZero Milan Expo-Summit 2025 on May 15 have told pv magazine that tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) will remain the dominant cell technology in the near term due to ongoing advancements, despite rising competition from back-contact and heterojunction technologies.

Bouygues Construction Australia and Equans Solar and Storage are trialling an autonomous piling system machine to build French renewable giant ENGIE’s 250 MW Goorambat East Solar Farm in northern Victoria.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have developed a contactless method to measure the performance of back-contact solar cells, enabling in-line assessment of key parameters such as efficiency, fill factor, and current-voltage characteristics.

Solar sheep grazing helps to create a beneficial dual-use environment, found American Solar Grazing Association in a two-year study conducted at 31 different solar sites.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, reports that TOPCon modules from China held steady at between $0.085-0.090/W. It also reveals that Europe prices for TOPCon modules of over 450 W rose by 0.96%, assessed at €0.105/W.

New research from the University of New South Wales have found that the Special Injected Metallization (JSIM) technique developed by Chinese manufacturer Jolywood can considerably increase TOPCon solar cell efficiency. The scientists described precisely how laser-assisted firing enhances cell performance, reportedly filling critical gaps in industrial TOPCon cell optimization.

Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT has developed a solar module cleaning system that uses structure-borne sound and targeted mechanical vibrations to dislodge dust. Researchers will present the technology at Intersolar Europe in Munich from May 7 to 9.