Author: solarenergy

The scientists explained that small and medium-sized businesses are essential for the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which enables remote monitoring and connects utilities to customers while supporting a PV-powered green energy transition on rooftops. However, its widespread adoption poses significant cybersecurity risks, including inaccurate billing, energy theft, service disruptions and privacy breaches, making robust security measures essential. They estimate that there are currently more than 209 million SMs deployed across Europe and say that while these devices provide features such as outage detection, theft detection and power quality monitoring, they also raise concerns about privacy, data interception and system vulnerability.…

The UK energy price ceiling will rise to £1,972.53 in July as conflict in the Middle East is likely to have a lingering impact on energy, according to the latest forecasts from Cornwall Insight. The standard price cap will rise by £332 compared to the next April cap (£1,641), Cornwall Insight predicts, an increase of more than 20%. On March 4, Cornwall Insight began predicting a rise in the price ceiling for July due to “strong increases in wholesale gas prices due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.” The March 4 announcement said “while the jump is cause…

A Japanese consortium is piloting agrivoltaic technology using film-type perovskite solar cells over rice fields to study energy generation alongside crop production. The three-year project will assess impacts on rice yields, land use and emissions, while testing the performance and commercial viability of the technology. March 25, 2026 Patrick Jowett A consortium of Japanese partners is working on a pilot project involving the installation of an agrivoltaic installation of film-type perovskite solar cells above rice fields. The five collaboration partners, Sekisui Solar Film, Terra Inc, Himawari Green Energy, Chiba University and Chiba Bank, have entered into a memorandum of understanding…

A new study from the German Mechanical Engineering Association (VDMA) shows that global capital expenditure on PV manufacturing equipment will grow to more than 2.5 times current levels by 2035, with European suppliers maintaining their competitiveness for the time being despite structural challenges. March 25, 2026 Jochen Siemer By pv magazine Deutschland Global capital expenditure on PV production equipment reached approximately $16.6 billion in 2025 and is expected to rise to $43.8 billion by 2035, according to a study commissioned by VDMA and conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and ISC Konstanz. This represents an increase to…

The recently published UK NFCC Guidelines for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are “by far the most comprehensive revision we have seen in the UK market to date”.This is what Mishaal SyedNaveed, product manager for fire safety at system integrator Wärtsilä Energy Storage, says in conversation with Solar energy portal following the publication of the UK National Fire Chief Council (NFCC) fire safety standards for BESS.The new framework, published in Februaryreplaces the guidelines first issued in 2023.Revisions have been made following industry engagement and internal processes; The guidelines aim to support fire and rescue services across the country by raising…

Australia’s National Science Agency says AI-powered robots could reshape solar maintenance in large-scale PV projects after successfully testing the cutting-edge technology. March 25, 2026 David Caroll By pv magazine Australia The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has repurposed robots originally designed for mining to carry out maintenance inspections on large-scale solar farms in Australia. The CSIRO said the autonomous robots, which use cameras and sensors to create a digital map of a solar farm and artificial intelligence software to identify maintenance issues, have been successfully tested on utility-scale projects in Queensland and New South Wales. Researchers at the…

Researchers from Swansea University found that perovskite solar cells can tolerate dusty manufacturing environments and perform almost as well as cells made in cleanrooms. The findings suggest that low-cost, scalable production may be possible without ultrasterile conditions, potentially accelerating the production of cells and modules. March 25, 2026 Lior Kahana A research team from Swansea University in the United Kingdom investigated how dusty manufacturing environments affect perovskite solar cells and found that devices exposed to dust perform similarly to devices produced in clean conditions, with only minor losses in some performance metrics. “Our findings are a major win for the…

A 350 MWh battery storage system in Europe delivers significantly less energy than expected due to cell imbalance, where the battery management system fails to detect the problem, tradable energy volumes are chronically overestimated and weekly balancing costs reach €110,000 ($127,745). This is one of the real failure scenarios that will be examined at the Battery Business & Development Forum on April 1. March 24, 2026 Michael Fuhs By ESS news A 350 MWh battery storage facility somewhere in Europe saw revenues fall short of expectations. Subsequent analysis showed that the situation could have been much worse. As with series-connected…

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (Entso-E) has published its final root cause report on the April 28, 2025 blackout in Spain and Portugal, identifying faults in network management, generation and regulation and making 22 recommendations to strengthen the resilience of the European network. March 23, 2026 Pilar Sanchez Molina By pv magazine Spain A 440-page report published on Friday by an Entso-E expert group has identified systemic failures in voltage control, reactive energy management and regulatory frameworks as the root causes of the blackout that knocked out power to mainland Spain and Portugal on April 28,…

Silver prices have fallen more than 40% since early January, when they hit an all-time high of around $120/oz. March 24, 2026 Emiliano Bellini After hovering above $80 per ounce (oz) between February 19 and March 13, silver prices now appear to have stabilized around $70/oz. “For now, silver prices appear to have found a new bottom, supported by yesterday’s announcement of a pause in attacks on Iran,” said Philip Newman, director of independent research consultancy Metals Focus. pv magazine. As of mid-October 2025, silver was already on a strong upward trajectory, having broken historical levels around $50/oz. The rally…