Author: solarenergy

The shift to 15-minute spot market intervals has increased battery arbitrage revenues in Europe while providing more accurate signals for grid efficiency, says French battery storage specialist Storio Energy. October 27, 2025 Gwénaëlle Deboutte By ESS news The transition of the electricity spot market to 15-minute increments, effective October 1, is already changing the economic dynamics of battery storage in Europe. Paris-based Storio Energy said it has tracked a 20% increase in battery market arbitrage revenue thanks to more accurate recording of price movements. The wholesale electricity market, which sets prices 24 hours in advance, now displays prices at 15-minute…

New method uses solar biofilms to eliminate soil pollutants Recent research has shown that iron-mineral-bacterial biofilms can effectively degrade environmental pollutants using solar energy. This new approach not only improves the degradation of antibiotics such as tetracycline hydrochloride and chloramphenicol, but also represents an important advance for sustainable pollution control and bioremediation. Scientists have discovered that non-phototrophic microbes in soil can utilize sunlight through mineral-microbe interactions, expanding the recognized impact of solar energy beyond photosynthesis. By exploiting the interactions between iron minerals and bacteria, researchers have developed biofilms with charge-storage capabilities, allowing pollutant reduction even in soil zones where light…

Janta Power closed $5.5 million in seed financing to develop its vertical solar tower, with pilot programs already underway at major global airports such as Dallas-Fort Worth and Munich International Airport. October 27, 2025 Ryan Kennedy By pv magazine USA Janta Power, developer of vertical three-dimensional solar towers, announced that it has closed a $5.5 million seed funding round led by Mac Venture Capital and Collab Capital. The money is expected to help the startup scale up its patented 3D solar towers, which are designed to have high energy density for areas with limited space. The product has applications for…

Scientists in China have developed a new signal-missing aware energy prediction method using signal decomposition, multi-scale covariate interaction, and collaborative transfer learning across multiple domains. The approach reportedly improves average prediction accuracy by 15.3%. October 27, 2025 Lior Kahana A research team led by China’s Hunan University has developed a new missing PV power prediction method designed to handle missing and incomplete data. The multi-domain collaborative transfer learning-multiscale covariate interaction (MDCTL-MCI) methodology combines signal decomposition, multi-scale covariate interaction and multi-domain collaborative transfer learning. “This study investigates how covariate information can be effectively used to improve predictive performance, and whether the…

Colombia has approved COP 8.35 trillion ($2.1 billion) for its Colombia Solar program to equip 1.3 million low-income households with PV systems between 2026 and 2030. October 24, 2025 Luis Ini Image: Manidip Mandal, Unsplash By pv magazine LatAm Colombia’s National Planning Department (DNP) has confirmed that policy document CONPES 4158 authorizes COP 8.35 trillion in financing for the period 2026-2030 to support low-income electricity subsidy schemes for approximately 1.3 million households. The initiative is part of the Colombia Solar Program, led by the Ministry of Mines and Energy with technical support from the DNP and the Ministry of Finance…

A data center in the Pacific Northwest will come online years earlier than expected due to the deployment of a 62 MWh battery energy storage system on campus, meaning the data center won’t have to wait for the local utility to update its own charging service to meet power needs. Calibrating energy will deliver a BESS of 31 MW/62 MWh Aligned data centers’ Pacific Northwest data center campus, which will bring the battery online in 2026 and allow the facility to scale operations sooner than would be possible with traditional utility upgrades. Calibrant and Aligned have been working with a…

Groundbreaking double-layer design improves the performance of silicon batteries in electric vehicles Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have shown that a new double-layer electrode design, guided by operando imaging, significantly improves the cyclic stability and fast charging performance of automotive batteries. Their findings indicate that the new silicon-based composite electrodes can reduce battery costs by up to 30 percent while increasing capacity and lifespan. The research team, led by Dr. Xuekun Lu, introduced an evidence-based double-layer architecture to address long-standing hurdles with silicon electrode degradation. The high theoretical capacitance of silicon is offset by an expansion of up…

Mexico has opened a call for proposals for generation and interconnection permits to integrate new projects into the national electricity system under an accelerated review mechanism aligned with binding planning. October 24, 2025 Luis Ini By pv magazine Mexico The Mexican National Energy Commission (CNE) and the Ministry of Energy (SENER) published it phone conversation in the Official Journal, targeting projects with a capacity of 0.7 MW or more that require generation and interconnection permits and that meet the technical, territorial and commercial exploitation criteria defined in the technical annex of the binding schedule. Expressions of interest for the One-Stop…

Titan Energy and Greenskies Clean Focus have announced the completion of a unique renewable energy project with a Connecticut YMCA that will deliver both financial and sustainability benefits to the community-based organization. Unlike a traditional power purchase agreement (PPA), this project was structured as a roof lease. By placing solar panels on the roof, the… Soundview Family YMCA will receive approximately $20,000 annually from Greenskies, providing a consistent long-term revenue stream without the need for upfront investments or changes to existing energy systems. The Soundview Family YMCA branch already has a combined heat and power (CHP) system that covers a…

Next-generation solar cells use atomically thin materials to improve performance An international research team led by Professor Ghulam Dastgeer of Sejong University and Professor Zhiming Wang of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China has released a comprehensive review exploring how two-dimensional (2D) materials are transforming solar energy harvesting. Their work addresses the shortcomings of silicon-based photovoltaic technologies, emphasizing breakthroughs in efficiency, stability and flexibility. The review details how materials such as graphene, MoS2, MXenes and others enable precise bandgap tuning, fast charge transport and robust chemical stability. These properties help limit the energy losses that challenge traditional…