Author: solarenergy
The Danish company says its new product is ideal for testing small to medium-sized solar cells. It can simulate lighting conditions in the range of 390–700 nm. March 11, 2026 Lior Kahana Danish printed electronics supplier InfinityPV has introduced a compact solar simulator for testing small to medium-sized solar cells and experiments with controlled lighting. The system, called ISOSun Vis, can simulate lighting conditions in the range of 390–700 nm. “Equipped with six independently tunable LED channels (UV, blue, green, amber, red, white), it enables accurate reproduction of both indoor and outdoor spectra, including an AM1.5G setting,” the company said…
The Welsh Government has unveiled plans to effectively make rooftop solar mandatory for new buildings. Changes to Wales’ building regulations will require “a system for the generation of renewable electricity” to be installed on site in any newly constructed residential building, or in any building “containing a dwelling”. In practice this will mean that in the vast majority of cases solar energy will be installed on roofs as it is the cheapest and easiest technology to install. The change will come into effect on March 4, 2027, with refined guidelines expected later this year. “This is great news for Wales…
Walk around any European industrial estate and the rooftop PV story is hiding in plain sight. Kilometre after kilometre of (nearly) flat metal roofing (warehouses, logistics hubs, stores, manufacturing) with no PV panels in sight. It is not for lack of sunshine, or policy support, or investor appetite. It is because these buildings have often been constructed decades ago and sized, for cost reasons, to meet the load and overload standards of the time, with no allowance for the additional load of a future solar PV installation. This is Europe’s rooftop solar paradox: a continent pushing hard toward 100 GW…
Malaysia’s energy sector is poised for demand growth, with industrial expansion, digitalization and especially data center development. As Malaysia has become a hotspot for new data centers in Southeast Asia, physical bottlenecks are starting to emerge. On February 24, 2026, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government has restricted developments in non-AI data centers over the past year and a half to two years, citing concerns over security of power and water supply. Therefore, providing reliable delivery to data centers requires more than just incremental generation additions. It requires coordinated investments across the system, such as sufficient switchable capacity…
VDE America has enhanced its proprietary hail risk model with newly analyzed wind speed data, improving the accuracy of hail damage predictions for solar power generation facilities. Recent analysis of meteorological data by VDE shows that winds during hailstorms could be stronger than previously thought, with wind speeds in some locations more than doubling previous estimates. VDE came to this conclusion after carefully filtering weather data to focus on events in which hailstorms passed directly over weather stations in the contiguous United States. Stronger winds cause hailstones to hit the panels more directly and with greater force, increasing the risk…
The chance to reform a net metering system that has hampered the implementation of rooftop solar projects in California was thwarted yesterday. Credit: SnapNrack The California Court of Appeals upheld the current net metering program, Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0), after a months-long review. Various solar industry and environmental groups has filed a lawsuit v. California Public Utilities Commission regarding NEM 3.0 in 2023, and the California Supreme Court took up the lawsuit in April 2024. The California Supreme Court ruled in August 2025 that the Court of Appeals must review and review NEM 3.0. But now the program…
Volkswagen has connected its first 20 MW/40 MWh stationary storage system in Salzgitter, Germany, marking the start of its plan to integrate battery production, storage and energy trading within one corporate structure. March 10, 2026 Jochen Siemer Image: Volkswagen Group Charging By ESS news Volkswagen has entered the stationary battery storage market with the grid connection of its “Elli PowerCenter” in Salzgitter, Germany, according to Elli, the group’s charging subsidiary. After several months of construction, the EV charging provider has commissioned a 20 MW/40 MWh system and said it plans to expand the project, although specific figures and timelines were…
An Algerian research team has developed a smart water spray cooling system for PV panels that activates only when the temperature exceeds a certain threshold, increasing efficiency and minimizing water consumption in desert conditions. The system increased power and reduced module temperatures, providing comparable efficiency to continuous cooling, but with much lower water consumption, pump operation and costs. March 10, 2026 Lior Kahana A research team from Algeria’s Kasdi Merbah University has developed a new smart water spray cooling system for PV panels. “The novelty of this research lies in the design of a smart water spray cooling system based…
Choosing a solar installer in North Carolina is not a small decision. You are making a long-term investment in your home and your energy independence. The company you pick will shape that experience from the first conversation to the last kilowatt-hour your system ever produces. Two names that often come up for homeowners in the Triangle and across NC are 8MSolar and Yes Solar Solutions. Both are local, both have real track records, and both are worth a serious look. So how do you choose? This article gives you a comparison of both companies across the factors that matter: expertise,…
India-based Involtics has launched its GTSI series of single-phase hybrid inverters in 3 kW, 3.6 kW, 5 kW and 6 kW sizes for residential solar systems. March 10, 2026 Uma Gupta By pv magazine India India-based Involtics has launched its GTSI series of single-phase hybrid inverters for residential solar applications. The range of inverters is available in 3 kW, 3.6 kW, 5 kW and 6 kW versions and works with solar panels, batteries (lead-acid and lithium-ion) and the electricity grid to provide continuous power for domestic consumers. The inverters convert the DC electricity generated by solar panels into AC power…